CFTC Staff Letters

The Division will not recommend that the Commission take an enforcement action against FCMs or IBs for failure to be fully compliant with Regulations 1.71(a)-(c), (e) and (f) until 60 days beyond the current June 4, 2012 compliance date of the Regulation (August 3, 2012).

The Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight provided no-action relief to the general partner of a commodity pool from registering as a CPO under Section 4m(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act, and allowed an affiliated, registered CPO (“designee”) to serve as the CPO of the pool instead, where, among other things: (1) the general partner and the designee are under common ownership and control; (2) the general partner has delegated all of its management authority to the designee; (3) the general partner does not engage in the solicitation of investors for the pool and does not manage property of the pool; and (4) the general partner and designee executed and submitted to the Division a written acknowledgement of joint and several liability for any violation by either of them of the Act or the Commission’s regulations.

The Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight provided no-action relief to the general partner of a commodity pool from registering as a CPO under Section 4m(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act, and allowed an affiliated CPO (“designee”) to serve as the CPO of the pool instead, where, among other things: (1) the general partner and the designee are under common ownership and control; (2) the general partner has delegated all of its investment management authority to the designee; and (3) the general partner does not engage in the solicitation of investors for the pool and does not manage property of the pool. The relief was subject to the conditions that, among other things: (1) the designee becomes and remains registered as a CPO; and (2) the general partner and the designee execute an agreement by which they each undertake to be jointly and severally liabile for any violation by either of them of the Act or the Commission’s regulations in connection with the operation of the pool.

The Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight provided no-action relief to the general partner of a commodity pool from registering as a CPO under Section 4m(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act, and allowed an affiliated CPO (“designee”) to serve as the CPO of the pool instead, where, among other things: (1) the general partner and the designee are under common ownership and control; (2) the general partner has delegated all of its management authority to the designee; (3) the general partner does not engage in the solicitation of investors for the pool and does not manage property of the pool; and (4) the general partner and designee executed and submitted to the Division a written acknowledgement of joint and several liability for any violation by either of them of the Act or the Commission’s regulations.

Time-Limited No-Action Relief: Swaps Only With Certain Persons to be Included in Calculation of Aggregate Gross Notional Amount for Purposes of Swap Dealer De Minimis Exception and Calculation of Whether a Person is a Major Swap Participant.

Time Limited No-action Relief: Foreign Exchange Swaps and Foreign Exchange Forwards Not to be Considered in Calculating Aggregate Gross Notional Amount for Purposes of Swap Dealer De Minimis Exception or in Calculating Substantial Position in Swaps or Substantial Counterparty Exposure for Purposes of the Major Swap Participant Definition. Time-Limited No-action Relief for persons that meet the definitions of Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors Solely as a Result of their Foreign Exchange Swap and Foreign Exchange Forward Activities.

Time-Limited No-Action Relief: Swaps in Agricultural and Exempt Commodities Not to be Considered in Calculating Aggregate Gross Notional Amount for Purposes of Swap Dealer De Minimis Exception and Calculation of Whether a Person is a Major Swap Participant.

Staff No-Action Relief: Temporary Relief from the De Minimis Threshold for Certain Swaps with Special Entities.

Interpretations and no-action positions related to ECP status.

Time-Limited No-Action Relief: Cleared Swaps in Agricultural and Exempt Commodities and Swaps Exchanged for Futures Not to be Considered in Calculating Aggregate Gross Notional Amount for Purposes of Swap Dealer De Minimis Exception.