CFTC Staff Letters

Exemptive relief granted to a CPO of a pool from the audit requirements of Commission regulation 4.22(d) with respect to the financial statements in the annual reports of the pool. The participants in the pool are three charitable remainder trusts formed by the sole owner and CEO of the CPO, who is also the sole income beneficiary of the trusts. The trustee of the trusts is the President of the CPO. The CPO has provided a waiver from the trustee.

Exemptive relief that was provided in CFTC Staff Letters 14-35 and 14-36 with respect to the requirements of Commission regulations 4.21, 4.22, and 4.25 was extended to the successor CPO of the trusts and series in those letters, subject to certain conditions, including the following: (1) the material business terms of the trusts and series do not change; (2) the investment experience of the shareholders does not change; (3) the only material change is the substitution of the CPO; (4) the representations made by the CPO in CFTC Letters 14-35 and 14-36 remain applicable; and (5) the successor CPO complies with the terms and conditions for relief set forth for the CPO in CFTC Letters 14-35 and 14-36.

Exemptive relief granted to a CPO of certain segregated series of a pool that began operations in July 2014 from the audit requirements of Commission regulation 4.22(d) with respect to the financial statements in the 2014 annual reports of the segregated series. Each segregated series has one participant and the CPO has provided waivers from the participant in each segregated series.

Exemptive relief granted to a CPO of a segregated portfolio of a pool from the audit requirements of Commission regulation 4.22(d)with respect to the financial statements in the 2014 annual report of the segregated portfolio. The CPO has provided a waiver from the sole participant of the segregated portfolio.

Extension of conditional time-limited no-action relief for Yieldbroker Pty Limited with regard to Section 5h(a)(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission Regulation 37.3(a)(1) until October 15, 2015.

Conditional no-action relief with respect to swaps trading on certain financial markets that are licensed in Australia and overseen by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).

The CPO of a commodity pool requested relief from the Annual Report filing and certification requirements in Regulations 4.22(c) and (d), and represented that the pool is closing, having been entirely proprietary since its inception; therefore, DSIO granted exemptive relief pursuant to Regulations 4.12(a) and 140.93 from the certification requirement in Regulation 4.22(d), conditioned upon the filing of an unaudited Annual Report in compliance with Regulation 4.22(c).

The Division of Clearing and Risk published a letter interpreting Section 2(h)(7)(C)(iii) of the Commodity Exchange Act.

The Division of Market Oversight is issuing Guidance to swap execution facilities regarding the calculation of projected operating costs or expenses for the purpose of meeting the financial resource requirements under SEF Core Principle 13 and Commission Regulation 37.1303 and clarifies that commissions paid employee-brokers, calculated as a percentage of transaction revenue, do not have to be included in the calculation.

The Division of Market Oversight is issuing a no-action letter that extends No-Action Letter 14-108 and continues to provide relief from (1) the requirement that a SEF obtain documents that are incorporated by reference in confirmations issued under Commission Regulation 37.6(b) prior to issuing the confirmation, and (2) the requirement that a SEF maintain such documents as records. In addition, the division is providing relief from the requirement set forth in Commission Regulation 45.3(a) that SEFs report terms contained in the agreements that are confirmation data.