March 23, 2015

CFTC Staff Issues Advisory Reminding Futures Commission Merchants, Clearing Members, Foreign Brokers, Swap Dealers, and Certain Reporting Markets of their Reporting Obligations Pursuant to the Ownership and Control Final Rule

Washington, DC — The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (Commission) Division of Market Oversight and Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight today issued a staff advisory (CFTC Staff Advisory No. 15-14) to remind futures commission merchants, clearing members, foreign brokers, swap dealers, and certain reporting markets (collectively, reporting parties) of their obligation to obtain information on a timely basis from their customers or counterparties in order to comply with the ownership and control reports final rule (OCR Final Rule).

The staff advisory states that, pursuant to the requirements of the OCR Final Rule, reporting parties must obtain from their customers or counterparties the information necessary for reporting parties to submit certain OCR reporting forms by the deadlines specified in the OCR Final Rule. The advisory further states that it may be advisable for reporting parties to take steps to ensure that their customers and counterparties: respond promptly to requests from reporting parties for OCR information; promptly notify reporting parties of any subsequent updates to the information; and otherwise assist reporting parties in fulfilling their reporting obligations under the OCR Final Rule.

The OCR Final Rule requires the electronic submission of trader identification and market participant data on new and updated reporting forms. These reporting forms collect new information to better identify participants in futures and swaps markets. The OCR Final Rule is currently subject to staff no-action letter 15-03, issued on February 10, 2015. Pursuant to the no-action letter, reporting obligations under the OCR Final Rule follow a staggered implementation schedule with obligations beginning on October 1, 2015. Reporting parties should take preparatory steps, as described in staff no-action letter 15-03, so that they may successfully comply with their reporting obligations on October 1, 2015.

Additional information on the OCR Final Rule is available on the Commission’s website.

Last Updated: March 26, 2015