CFTC Staff Letters

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.

The Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight granted no-action relief from the registration requirement of Section 4m(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act to a commodity pool operator (“CPO”) of a pool, the investors of which are the owner of the general partner and CPO of the pool, his family investment vehicle, and his close business associates who were involved in developing the pool’s trading algorithm.

DSIO is issuing conditional no-action relief permitting a provisionally registered swap dealer to satisfy certain of its requirements under Rule 3.3 by reporting to, and interacting with, the “governing body,” rather than the senior officer or board of directors, subject to certain conditions.

DSIO is issuing an extension of a previous no-action letter providing additional time for futures commission merchants (FCMs) to comply with Commission regulations requiring FCMs to obtain acknowledgement letters from certain depositories. DSIO will provide no-action relief until April 30, 2015.