Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act generally authorizes the SEC to regulate security-based swaps. The SEC's proposal aims to increase accountability and transparency in the security-based swap market, and ensure these repositories retain and maintain complete records of security-based swap transactions that can be accessed by regulators.

"The need for these repositories stems from the opaque nature of the swaps market — a market where transaction-level data has not been widely available or required to be recorded," said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. "These repositories have a crucial role to play in the development of a healthy and robust security-based swap market."

The SEC is seeking public comment on the proposed rules for a period of 45 days following their publication in the Federal Register.

Press release