Most major Swaps industry participants have received, or at least applied for, SEF designation.

The CFTC has granted three more SEF licenses, this time to Tera Group’s TeraExchange, BGC Partners and Javelin Capital Markets. They now join Bloomberg, Tradeweb, State Street, GFI, and MarketAxess, with applications still in process for industry giants CME Group and Thomson Reuters, among others.

What is an SEF? The Dodd-Frank Act created the SEF concept as part of its general goal to increase transparency in the OTC derivatives marketplace. SEFs are regulated trading platforms that provide pre-trade information (bids and offers) and an execution mechanism for swap transactions among eligible contract participants. The deadline for SEF registration is October 2.

For a more detailed review of SEFs see papers put out on the subject by law firm Davis Polk and accounting firm PwC.

For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.