CFTC Staff Letters

The CPO of a commodity pool that commenced operations in September of 2008 requested relief from Commission Regulations 4.22 (c) and (d), which require certification of the pool’s final Annual Report. The pool had only eight participants, total capital contributions of $3XX,XXX and, as of the pool’s liquidation date, $2X,XXX in net asset value. The CPO submitted signed waivers from each of the pool’s participants consenting to the exemption from the certified annual report requirement. DCIO granted relief pursuant to Commission Regulations 140.93 and 4.12(a).

The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight took a CPO registration no-action position with respect to the independent trustees of a commodity pool where the independent trustees had no authority to perform CPO functions, the independent trustees were appointed solely to comply with audit committee requirements under the Sarbanes Oxley Act and exchange listing requirements, and a separate registered CPO was authorized to perform all commodity pool operator functions. The Division further granted exemptive relief from certain of the Part 4 regulations to the registered CPO of a commodity pool, whose shares the CPO intended to publicly offer and to list for trading on a national securities exchange. As is discussed in the letter, this relief was in the nature of substituted compliance with those regulations.

The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight (Division) denied a request for relief from the requirement that an introducing broker (IB) provide specific customer account identifiers to the IB’s clearing futures commission merchant at or prior to the time of order entry. The Division found insufficient as grounds for the requested relief the requester’s assertion that compliance with the requirement would result in price “slippage” and poor customer order fills.

The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight issued an IB registration no-action position to a United States bank whose foreign branches wish to refer foreign customers to an affiliated registered FCM. This position was based in part on the branches being located outside the United States and the FCM accepting liability for the foreign branches.

The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight provided no-action relief to the general partner of a commodity pool operator (CPO) from registering as such pursuant to Section 4m(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act (Act), and allowing a registered CPO (designee) to serve as the CPO instead. This relief is subject to conditions that: (1) the designee must serve as the CPO of the pool; and (2) the designee must remain registered as a CPO; (3) the general partner is not subject to a statutory disqualification under Section 8a(2) or 8a(3) of the Act; (4) the general partner and the designee are under common ownership and control; (5) the general partner has delegated all of its management authority to the designee pursuant to its limited partnership agreement and its investment management agreement; (6) the general partner has no employees acting on its behalf, does not engage in the solicitation of investors for the pool, does not manage property of the pool, and does not engage in any other activities that are subject to the Act or Commission regulations; and (7) the general partner and designee have executed and submitted to the Division a written acknowledgement of joint and several liability for any violation by either of them of the Act or the Commission’s regulations.

The CPO of a proprietary commodity pool (consisting only of the CPO and the CPO’s mother) requested relief from Commission Regulation 4.22(d), which requires certification of the pool’s annual report. The pool had, as of the close of its fiscal year, only $XXX,XXX in total assets, and the pool’s participants had received monthly account statements prepared by an unassociated third-party accounting firm. The CPO submitted signed waivers from each of the pool’s participants consenting to the exemption from the certified annual relief requirement. DCIO granted relief pursuant to Commission Regulations 140.93 and 4.12(a).

DCIO responded to a request for guidance from the Joint Audit Committee (JAC) as to investments of customer funds by futures commission merchants (FCMs) in corporate debt securities guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) under its Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP). The letter sets forth the conditions under which TLGP securities guaranteed by the FDIC may be permitted investments for customer segregated funds under Regulation 1.25 or customer secured amount funds under Regulation 30.7, and further specifies the necessary haircuts to FCM adjusted net capital under Regulation 1.17. The letter also provides guidance to the JAC as to whether, and to what extent, Regulation 1.32 permits offsets of FCM customer account deficits against TLGP securities the customer has deposited for its account with the FCM.

No-Action Relief Request of Singapore Exchange Derivatives Trading in Connection with the Offer and Sale in the United States of its Mini Futures Contract Based on the Nikkei 225 Stock Index.

Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Request for No-Action Relief in Connection with the Offer and Sale in the United States of its Mini Futures Contract Based on the TOPIX and its Futures Contracts Based on the TOPIX Core30 Index and TSE REIT Index.

The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight issued an interpretation that a family partnership is not a commodity pool where all participants are close family members. This interpretation would not be affected by family members forming a CTA which will manage both the family partnership’s commodity interest trading and the trading of non-related persons.