Oct. 31, 2022
October 31, 2022 Apologies if this has been submitted twice, but I submitted originally on 10/29/22 and do not see my comment posted. As an individual investor, I am confounded by the lack of transparency to so many aspects of our financial systems. The advent of self-directed trading is a boon to investors like myself that wish to make our own financial decisions without an intermediary. However, I am at a distinct disadvantage when critical information is shrouded, able to be hidden or delayed from reporting and thus, preventing me from making informed trading decisions. My impetus for writing this comment is the issuance of Release Number 8618-22 by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which astonishingly once again extends the period for reporting certain swaps from 2023 until 2025. The fact that this CFTC action is an additional extension of an extension that was put in place in 2013 makes the underlying information suspect to a layperson like myself. It certainly doesn't seem like the CFTC is on the side of the public in continuing to allow large financial entities inaction on reporting. I don't know enough about the intricacies of swaps to know whether this hidden information is fraudulent or not, but it is an example where those who are purportedly on the side of the retail investor (to be blunt, the SEC) should not only be investigating, but creating any policies necessary to expose any nefarious and illegal activities. I strongly support the SECs efforts to require more transparency and more reporting in an effort to reduce, prohibit and eliminate fraud in security based swaps by way of proposal S7-32-10. Compliance officers need to be held accoutable and it is essential to increase visibility into these large security based swaps in order to bring fairness to all that wish to particilate in our financial markets.