December 22, 2014

CFTC Staff Issues Advisory and Time-Limited No-Action Position Regarding the CCO Annual Report

Washington, DC — The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (Commission) Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DSIO) today issued a staff advisory that provides guidance for chief compliance officers (CCO) of futures commission merchants, swap dealers and major swap participants (registrants) to comply with the requirement to prepare an annual report on the state of the registrant’s compliance program under Commission Regulation 3.3(e).

Commission Regulation 3.3(e) more specifically requires a CCO to prepare an annual report covering the most recently completed fiscal year of the registrant and provide the report to the registrant’s board of directors or senior officer. CCOs must also furnish the annual report to the Commission. In general, regulation 3.3(e) requires the report to contain certain enumerated areas of discussion.

In connection with today’s advisory, DSIO also issued time-limited no-action relief to certain registrants concerning the timing of the filing of the CCO annual report. Regulation 3.3(f) requires the CCO annual report to be furnished to the Commission within 60 days after the end of the registrant’s fiscal year.

In light of the timing of publication of the staff advisory, the no-action relief grants registrants that have a fiscal year ending on or before January 31, 2015 an additional 30 days to furnish the Commission with their annual reports. If a registrant is still unable to comply with the requirement to furnish the annual report at the end of the 90-day period, it may furnish the report to the Commission no later than 120 days after the end of its fiscal year, provided that, no later than 90 days after the end of its fiscal year, the registrant informs the Division of any material non-compliance events that occurred during the fiscal year that is the subject of the annual report.

Last Updated: December 22, 2014