Last Friday, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved the second and third swap execution facilities (SEFs). Now TW SEF LLC and DW SEF LLC, both subsidiaries of Tradeweb Global, have obtained temporary registration as a Dodd-Frank-approved swaps trading platform. They follow Bloomberg SEF, which obtained the temporary registration at the end of July.

SEFs are designed to compete with banks and with the futures exchanges owned by CME Group Inc. of Chicago and Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange Inc. The goal is to increase transparency in the market by making swaps prices publicly available.