CFTC Staff Letters Archive

CFTC Staff Letters Archive provides Letters from 2007 and earlier. For Letters published 2008 or later visit the All Letters page.

There are no Advisory Letters or Other Written Communications for 2007 or earlier.

Date	PDF and Description
08/29/1997	97-71 ; Section 2(a);; No-Action No-Action letter allowing the Singapore International Monetary Exchange's futures contract based on the Morgan Stanley Capital International Taiwan Stock Index to be offered or sold in the United States.
08/28/1997	97-72 ; Rule 4.7(a);; No-Action A registered CPO could continue to claim under Rule 4.7(a), notwithstanding the Pool's admission of a non-QEP joint account, which was owned by a husband and wife. The husband was the sole proprietor of a registered CTA that served as the Pool's CTA, and his wife was an accredited investor and attorney who had practiced corporate and rule estate law and who had assisted her husband in forming the CTA.
08/25/1997	97-74 ; Rule 3.10;; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets provided interpretative advice regarding the regulatory requirements under the Commodity Exchange Act for forming an FCM or IB. The staff advised that Rule 3.10 requires that certain documents be submitted to NFA, and that Rule 3.34 requires that registrants attend ethics training as specified in the rule. The staff noted that nothing in the Act or Commission rules prohibits a bank from registering as an FCM or IB, although due to certain financial requirements as well as restrictions imposed by banking regulators, banking enterprises generally create a subsidiary or affiliate to act as an FCM or IB.
08/21/1997	97-69 ; Rules 4.7(a)(2)(ii) and (iii);; No-Action The CPO of a commodity pool was exempted from preparing and distributing the quarterly statements and Annual Reports required under Rules 4.7(a)(2)(ii) and (iii) in connection with a commodity pool whose sole limited partner is the Individual Retirement Account (IRA) of an attorney who is a senior partner at a law firm that provides counsel to the CPO.
08/20/1997	97-73 ; Section 4m(1) of the Act; Rule 4.23(a);; No-Action Directors of "X", a commodity pool, not required to register as CPOs in connection with their operation of X where, among other things: (1) X's investment manager is registered as a CPO; (2) X's participants are QEPs; (3) the Directors are all "non-United States" persons who either (a) own or have family members who own interests in X or (b) is an officer and director of a participant of X; (4) the Directors delegate to the investment manager the sole responsibility for the operation of X and the solicitation of investors for X; and (5) the Directors and the investment manager are jointly and severally liable for any violations of the Act or the Commission's regulations thereunder. The Division also granted the investment manager relief from the requirements of Rule 4.23(a) with respect to the location of original books and records.
08/19/1997	97-70 ; Rules 4.21, 4.22 and 4.23(a)(10) and (a)(11);; No-Action The CPO of a commodity pool was exempted from the disclosure, reporting and recordkeeping requirements of Rules 4.21, 4.22 and 4.23(a)(10) and (a)(11) in connection with a commodity pool whose interests will be offered exclusively to members of the CPO's immediate family and his wife's immediate family. Limited partners receive detailed unaudited monthly reports and annual tax returns for the pool.
08/06/1997	97-68 ; Rule 4.31;; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets confirmed that a registered commodity trading advisor could continue to claim relief from the disclosure document requirement of Rule 4.31 in connection with providing commodity interest trading advice to an offshore fund which would have as participants non-United States persons as well as qualified eligible clients.
08/06/1997	97-67 ; Rule 4.7(a);; No-Action A register CPO could continue to claim relief under Rule 4.7(a), notwithstanding the admission of a non-QEP trust into the Pool. The trust had been created by the will of a QEP, the sole trustee and the individual responsible for making investment decisions for the trust was the grantor's widow and a QEP, and the sole income recipient for fifteen years was a QEP. In addition, although not all participants in the Pool were QEPs, the CPO could invest more than ten percent of the fair market value of the Pool's assets in other pools for which the CPOs thereof had claimed relief pursuant to Rule 4.7(a).
07/31/1997	97-65 ; ?4m(a);; No-Action General partner of a Cayman Islands limited partnership to be operated as a Rule 4.7(a) pool not required to register as a CPO where the general partner is a wholly owned subsidiary of a registered CPO, who requested, and the Division deemed, to be the CPO of the pool. The general partner agreed to limit its activities with regard to the pool, no principal of the general partner was subject to a statutory disqualification under the Commodity Exchange Act, and the registered CPO and the general partner accepted joint and several liability with each other for any violation of the Act or Commission regulations thereunder applicable to CPOs in connection with the operation of the pool.
07/15/1997	97-64 ; Rule 4.7, 4.31, 4.33;; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets addressed the applicability of Rules 4.7, 4.31, and 4.3 3 to a registered commodity trading advisor (CTA) located in Germany that wished to expand its client base to include qualified eligible clients in the United States. The Division explained the relief from the disclosure and recordkeeping requirements of Rules 4.31 and 4.33 made available to qualifying CTAs by Commission Rule 4.7(b). Regarding a question concerning the sufficiency of the CTA's recordkeeping arrangements for a particular client, the Division noted that Rule 4.33 requires that a registered CTA maintain at its main business office the books and records specified in the rule, but explained that the Division had granted relief from the location requirement of Rule 4.33 where a CTA has demonstrated a need to maintain its books and records at a location other than its main business office.