CFTC Staff Letters

The CPO of three commodity pools operating pursuant to an exemption under Regulation 4.7 requested exemptive relief from the annual report requirement in Regulation 4.7(b)(3) to permit it to file an Annual Report for the pools for the period from their inception of trading, September 2, 2014, to December 31, 2015. The pool participants signed subscription documents, acknowledging the terms of the Pools’ offering memorandum, which included the CPO’s intent to file and distribute a 16-month Annual Report for the Pools’ first fiscal year. DSIO granted relief pursuant to Regulations 140.93 and 4.12(a) conditioned upon the future filing and distribution of a certified Annual Report for the period from September 2, 2014, to December 31, 2015, in compliance with Regulation 4.7(b)(3).

The CPO of a commodity pool operated pursuant to an exemption under Regulation 4.7 requested exemptive relief from the requirement in Regulations 4.7(b)(3) and 4.22(d)(1) that the financial statements in the pool’s annual report be audited. At the end of the 2014 fiscal year, the pool had just two participants, who are the partners of the CPO. DSIO granted relief from the audit requirement for the 2014 annual report pursuant to Regulations 4.12(a) and 140.93, conditioned upon the filing of an uncertified annual report for the 2014 fiscal year that otherwise complies with the provisions of Regulation 4.7(b)(3).

The CPO of a commodity pool operated pursuant to an exemption under Regulation 4.7 requested exemptive relief from the requirement in Regulations 4.7(b)(3) and 4.22(d)(1) that the financial statements in the pool’s annual report be audited. At the end of the 2014 fiscal year, the pool had two participants, a controlling principal of the CPO who oversees the daily operations of both the CPO and the pool, and an LLC owned and managed by the principal. DSIO granted relief from the audit requirement for the 2014 annual report pursuant to Regulations 4.12(a) and 140.93, conditioned upon the filing of an uncertified annual report for the 2014 fiscal year that otherwise complies with the provisions of Regulation 4.7(b)(3).

The CPO of a commodity pool operated pursuant to an exemption under Regulation 4.7 requested exemptive relief from the requirement in Regulations 4.7(b)(3) and 4.22(d)(1) that the financial statements in the pool’s annual report be audited. At the end of the 2014 fiscal year, the pool had four participants, a controlling principal of the CPO who oversees the daily operations of both the CPO and the pool; two entities owned and managed by the principal; and one outside investor. DSIO granted relief from the audit requirement for the 2014 annual report pursuant to Regulations 4.12(a) and 140.93, conditioned upon the filing, and distribution to the single outside investor, of an uncertified annual report for the 2014 fiscal year that otherwise complies with the provisions of Regulation 4.7(b)(3).

Extension of time-limited no-action relief with respect to certain Commodity Exchange Act provisions that may apply to Southwest Power Pool, Inc. and/or its participants

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 May 15, 2015.

The Division of Market Oversight (DMO) is issuing a no-action letter that provides additional time for reporting parties to comply with certain reporting requirements of the ownership and control final rule (the OCR Final Rule), which was published in the Federal Register on November 18, 2013. This no-action letter replaces a previous DMO no-action letter on the OCR Final Rule (CFTC Letter No. 14-95).

Request for No-Action Relief for Introducing Brokers’ Compliance with Certain Financial Reporting and Capital Computation Requirements under Regulations 1.10 and 1.17.

Time-Limited Extension of the No-Action Relief Provided in CFTC Letter No. 13-41 regarding the reporting of identifying information under Parts 20, 45 and 46.

The Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight granted no-action relief to a commodity pool operator (“CPO”) of three funds (a publicly-traded Parent, a Subsidiary that is approximately 99% owned by the Parent and approximately 1% owned by fund insiders, and a Trading Vehicle wholly-owned by the Subsidiary) from: (1) Filing with the National Futures Association (“NFA”) and distributing to the insider participants of the Subsidiary an audited annual report of the Subsidiary; (2) Distributing periodic statements of the Subsidiary to the insider participants of the Subsidiary; (3) Filing with NFA an audited annual report of the Trading Vehicle; and (4) Filing with NFA Form CPO-PQR for the Parent. This relief allows the CPO to prepare one audited annual report at the Parent-level and one Form CPO-PQR at the Subsidiary-level for the entire fund complex.