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
04/17/2003	03-21 ; Regulation 4.7(b)(1), 4.7(b)(2) and 4.7(b)(3);; No-Action The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight provided exemptive relief to a registered CPO from the periodic and annual reporting requirements of Rules 4.7(b)(1), 4.7(b)(2) and 4.7(b)(3) in connection with its operation of a master fund that has as its sole participants feeder funds that are operated by the CPO. This relief is subject to, among other things: (1) participation in the master fund being limited to the feeder funds, and any fund for which the CPO is the sole CPO; and (2) the annual reports of the feeder funds containing financial statements that include, among other information, the fees associated with the operation of the master fund.
04/17/2003	03-20 ; Section 4m(1);; No-Action The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight provided temporary no-action relief to allow a registered CPO that operates certain funds, for which it is required to register as a CPO, to operate certain other funds as if it were an unregistered CPO. This relief is subject to, among other things: (1) the requirement that the CPO operate the funds for which it is seeking relief pursuant to the requirements of a temporary no-action position announced by the Commission and published in the Federal Register pending final action on certain proposed rules; and (2) the expiration of the no-action relief when final action is taken on the proposed rules.
04/14/2003	03-17 ; Sections 5 and 5a;; No-Action The Division of Market Oversight issued a letter further amending the no-action relief granted November 12, 1999, permitting the International Petroleum Exchange of London Limited (IPE) to make its electronic trading and order matching system, known as Energy Trading System II, available to its members in the U.S. without obtaining contract market designation pursuant to Sections 5 and 5a of the CEA. The amendment permits IPE to make all of its contracts, including Brent Crude futures and option contracts, Gas Oil futures and option contracts, and U.K. Natural Gas futures contracts, available in the U.S. during the course of the entire trading day on the ICE Platform, an electronic trading system operated by Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., without obtaining contract market designation or registration as a derivatives transaction execution facility pursuant to Sections 5 and 5a of the CEA.
04/07/2003	03-16 ; Section 2(a);; No-Action Euronext Amsterdam N.V.'s requested no-action relief in connection with the offer and sale in the United States of its futures contracts based on the Amsterdam Exchanges Index.
04/04/2003	03-18 ; Section 4m(1) and Rule 4.14(a)(8);; No-Action The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight took: (1) a CPO registration no-action position regarding a U.K. investment adviser and its U.S. person directors in connection with operating certain non-U.S. commodity pools in which only non-U.S. persons may participate; and (2) a CTA registration no-action position regarding the same U.K. investment adviser and two affiliated SEC-registered investment advisors providing commodity interest trading advice to the same non-U.S. commodity pools. The Division also advised that the CTA no-action position taken in this letter would not bar the SEC-registered advisers from continuing to claim relief under Rule 4.14(a)(8), or bar the U.K. investment adviser from claiming Rule 4.14(a)(8) relief in the first instance, provided U.K. investment adviser's application for registration with the SEC as an investment adviser becomes effective.
04/01/2003	03-15 ; Rule 4.35(b);; No-Action A CTA operating two separate companies, whose trading was controlled by the same trading principal, requested an exemption from disclosing the past performance of both companies in each company's Disclosure Document. The exemption was denied based upon Rule 4.35(b)'s requirement that past performance of all accounts traded by a trading principal of the CTA must be disclosed in the Disclosure Document.
03/25/2003	03-14 ; Regulation 4.22;; No-Action The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight provided exemptive relief to a registered CPO from the periodic and annual reporting requirements of Rule 4.22 in connection with its operation of a Master Fund that has as its sole participants four Feeder Funds that are also operated by the CPO. The relief is subject to the conditions that: (i) the CPO remain the CPO of the Master Fund and the Feeder Funds; (ii) participation in the Master Fund is limited to the Feeder Funds; and (iii) the annual reports of the Feeder Funds contain financial statements that include, among other information, the detailed income and fees associated with the operation of the Master Fund expressed in dollars.
03/17/2003	03-13 ; Section 4d(1);; No-Action The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight recommended that the Commission not take any enforcement action against an FCM or a bank affiliate of the FCM if the bank affiliate introduced commodity customers to the FCM without being registered with the Commission as an IB. This position was based upon: (1) the bank affiliate being subject to Federal and State banking regulations; (2) all employees of the bank affiliate that introduce customers to the FCM being registered as APs of the FCM; (3) each office where the futures-related activities will take place being identified as a branch office of the FCM and listed as such in the appropriate forms filed with the National Futures Association; (4) a registered AP of the FCM, appropriately designated as a branch office manager, supervising the futures-related activities of the bank affiliate employees registered as APs of the FCM; and (5) the FCM being liable for the activities of such APs as provided for under the Act and Commission rules.
03/10/2003	03-12 ; Section 5 and 5a;; No-Action The Division of Market Oversight issued a letter further amending the no-action relief granted November12, 1999, permitting the International Petroleum Exchange of London Limited (IPE) to make its electronic trading and order matching system, known as Energy Trading System II, available to its members in the U.S. without obtaining contract market designation pursuant to Sections 5 and 5a of the CEA. Subject to two conditions, the amendment permits IPE to extend its early morning (U.K. time) trading sessions in the Brent futures and Gas Oil futures contracts available in the U.S. on the ICE Platform, an electronic trading system operated by Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., without obtaining contract market designation or registration as a derivatives transaction execution facility pursuant to Sections 5 and 5a of the CEA.
02/24/2003	03-08 ; Section 5 and 5a of the CEA;; No-Action The Division of Market Oversight issued a letter amending the no-action relief granted November 12, 1999, permitting the International Petroleum Exchange of London Limited (IPE) to make its electronic trading and order matching system, known as Energy Trading System II, available to its members in the U.S. without obtaining contract market designation pursuant to Sections 5 and 5a of the CEA. Subject to two conditions, the amendment permits IPE to make its early morning (U.K. time) trading session in the Brent futures and Gas Oil futures contracts available in the U.S. on the ICE Platform, an electronic trading system operated by Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., without obtaining contract market designation or registration as a derivatives transaction execution facility pursuant to Sections 5 and 5a of the CEA.