CFTC Staff Letters

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.

The Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight issued an interpretative letter that clarifies, in light of the recent vacatur of the position limits rule, the scope of the bona fide hedging exemption from the trading thresholds as applied to the operators of registered investment companies pursuant to Regulation 4.5.

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.

Registration Relief for Certain Persons.

The Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight issued an interpretative letter excluding certain securitization vehicles from the definition of commodity pool, subject to certain conditions.