CFTC Staff Letters

Exemptive relief granted to a CPO of certain segregated series of a pool that began operations in July 2014 from the audit requirements of Commission regulation 4.22(d) with respect to the financial statements in the 2014 annual reports of the segregated series. Each segregated series has one participant and the CPO has provided waivers from the participant in each segregated series.

Exemptive relief granted to a CPO of a segregated portfolio of a pool from the audit requirements of Commission regulation 4.22(d)with respect to the financial statements in the 2014 annual report of the segregated portfolio. The CPO has provided a waiver from the sole participant of the segregated portfolio.

Extension of conditional time-limited no-action relief for Yieldbroker Pty Limited with regard to Section 5h(a)(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission Regulation 37.3(a)(1) until October 15, 2015.

Conditional no-action relief with respect to swaps trading on certain financial markets that are licensed in Australia and overseen by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).

The CPO of a commodity pool requested relief from the Annual Report filing and certification requirements in Regulations 4.22(c) and (d), and represented that the pool is closing, having been entirely proprietary since its inception; therefore, DSIO granted exemptive relief pursuant to Regulations 4.12(a) and 140.93 from the certification requirement in Regulation 4.22(d), conditioned upon the filing of an unaudited Annual Report in compliance with Regulation 4.22(c).

The Division of Clearing and Risk published a letter interpreting Section 2(h)(7)(C)(iii) of the Commodity Exchange Act.

The Division of Market Oversight is issuing Guidance to swap execution facilities regarding the calculation of projected operating costs or expenses for the purpose of meeting the financial resource requirements under SEF Core Principle 13 and Commission Regulation 37.1303 and clarifies that commissions paid employee-brokers, calculated as a percentage of transaction revenue, do not have to be included in the calculation.

The Division of Market Oversight is issuing a no-action letter that extends No-Action Letter 14-108 and continues to provide relief from (1) the requirement that a SEF obtain documents that are incorporated by reference in confirmations issued under Commission Regulation 37.6(b) prior to issuing the confirmation, and (2) the requirement that a SEF maintain such documents as records. In addition, the division is providing relief from the requirement set forth in Commission Regulation 45.3(a) that SEFs report terms contained in the agreements that are confirmation data.

The Division of Market Oversight and the Division of Clearing and Risk are issuing a no-action letter that provides relief similar to that provided in No-Action Letters 13-66 and 14-50 by permitting swap execution facilities (SEFs) and designated contract markets (DCMs) to address clerical or operational errors that cause a swap to be rejected from clearing. The relief provided in this letter also permits SEFs and DCMS to address clerical or operational errors discovered after a swap has been cleared.

The CPO of a commodity pool operated pursuant to an exemption under Regulation 4.7 requested exemptive relief from the annual report requirement in Regulation 4.7(b)(3) to allow the CPO to file an annual report for the pool for the period from January 1, 2014, through January 31, 2015. The CPO determined in January 2015 to wind up the pool’s operations. By January 31, the pool had permanently ceased trading and completed the winding up process by making its final distributions to the pool’s seven participants, all of whom consented by waiver to receive a 13-month annual report. DSIO granted relief pursuant to Regulations 4.12(a) and 140.93 conditioned upon the future filing and distribution of a certified Annual Report for the period from January 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015.