September 22, 2015

CFTC Approves Supplement to Proposed Rulemaking to Modify the Aggregation Provisions of Its Position Limit Rules

Washington, DC — The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) today approved for public comment a supplement to its November 2013 proposal to modify the policy for aggregation under the Commission’s position limits regime for futures and option contracts in Part 150 of its regulations. As noted then, if the Commission’s proposed position limits regime for 28 exempt and agricultural commodity futures and options contracts and the physical commodity swaps that are economically equivalent to such contracts are finalized, the proposed modifications would also apply to aggregation under the position limits regime for those contracts and swaps.

The unanimous vote was conducted via seriatim. The supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking will be open for public comment for 45 days after publication in the Federal Register.

The supplement revises how the Commission proposes to address situations when aggregation is required on the basis of ownership of a greater than 50 percent interest in another entity. Under the November 2013 Aggregation proposal, owners of a greater than 50 percent interest would have to provide specified information and certifications in an application to the Commission, and wait for the Commission’s approval before disaggregating the owned entity’s positions. Under the supplement approved today, owners of a greater than 50 percent interest would follow the same procedure that would apply for owners of an interest between 10 and 50 percent, and be able to disaggregate the owned entity’s positions upon filing a notice with the Commission stating that specified standards have been met.

All other aspects of the November 2013 proposal, including the proposed criteria for disaggregation relief, remain the same. The Commission continues to consider that proposal and the comments submitted during the earlier comment periods.

Comments on the supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking, which is available on the Commission’s website, may be submitted electronically through the Commission’s Comments Online process.

Last Updated: September 29, 2015