It’s been two weeks since the swaps market reform has forced banks and traders onto SEFs, and so far little has changed.

After making large scale changes to the swaps market in an attempt to increase transparency and competition within the market, it seems banks and other traders are still  mostly trading amongst themselves.

It was hoped that this swaps market reform would help promote trading between these two groups. But, even without this, the market will at least be more transparent.

Before swaps were regulated, it was very difficult to see just how interconnected banks were, as most trades were handled over the phone. It’s thought that this helped exacerbate the 2008 financial crisis. With trades having to be done over SEFs, they can now be recorded and monitored.

On another note, it seems that the push to SEFs hasn’t had much of an effect on liquidity either. While the market did see a 30-40% drop in total trade volume during the first week, it is already back to average levels, according to Bloomberg.

The CFTC granted a three month delay to package swaps, which some think may be part of the reason  for the rather anticlimactic results.

Currently, SEF members aren’t commenting on the matter, feeling as though two weeks is too soon to begin making assessments of the market.