On Wednesday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued, for public comment, a proposal for a weekly CFTC Swaps Report that, when finalized, will give the public a comprehensive look at the size, risks and activities of the swaps market.

The proposal grew out of the swaps market reforms of the Dodd-Frank Act. While that legislation only requires the Commission to publish a report on trading, clearing, participants, and products in the swaps market on a semiannual and annual basis, the agency has decided it will publish this information on a weekly basis. The final CFTC Swaps Report is expected to be published every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m., starting in the spring of 2013. Details of the proposed report have been made public to solicit public feedback on its format, classification structures, and supporting documentation.

The numbers in the proposed CFTC Swaps Report are CFTC staff estimates based on voluntary submissions of swaps data and should not be considered to be definitive assessments of the size or activity in the swaps market. Data in the final, weekly report is expected to include total weekly transaction volumes reported to swap data repositories (on both a ticket volume and dollar volume basis) across four asset classes: interest rates (cleared and uncleared swaps, with cross-currency swaps broken out separately), credit (cleared and uncleared swaps), equities (uncleared swaps only), and commodities.

The public is being encouraged to send their comments and suggestions to swapsreport@cftc.gov. The deadline is Dec. 14, 2012. Comments and suggestions submitted after the close of the comment period may be considered, but at the discretion of the Commission.