CFTC Staff Letter 17-15: No-Action Relief from CPO Registration for Entity B

U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
Three Lafayette Centre

1155 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20581

Telephone: (202) 418-5000

eflaherty@cftc.gov
Division of Swap Dealer and
Intermediary Oversight
Eileen T. Flaherty
Director
CFTC Letter No. 17-15

No-Action

February 15, 2017

Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight

Re: Request For No-Action Relief from the Requirement to Register as a Commodity Pool Operator under Section 4m(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act Dear :
This is in response to your letter dated January 9, 2017 to the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (the “Division”) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “Commission” or the “CFTC”). In the letter, you request, on behalf of “A” and “B”, that “B” receive relief from the requirement to register with the Commission as a commodity pool operator (a “CPO”) under section 4m(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act (the “Act”)1 in connection with its role as trustee of a certain commodity pool (the “Pool”). Instead, you state that “B” will delegate certain of its responsibilities as the CPO of the Pool to “A” pursuant to the applicable requirements of CFTC Staff Letter No. 14-126 (“Letter 14-126”), 2 except for criterion 6 therein. Background On May 12, 2014, the Division issued CFTC Staff Letter No. 14-69 (“Letter 14-69”), which was in response to numerous requests asking that the Division provide no-action relief for failure to register as a CPO under section 4m(1) of the Act, if another person would serve as the registered CPO of the commodity pool at issue in lieu of the requesting CPO. Letter 14-69 developed a standardized, streamlined approach pursuant to which the Division addressed these types of relief requests, and set forth certain requirements that were based on prior staff no-action letters. On October 15, 2014, the Division issued Letter 14-126, which was a further refinement of the relief addressed in Letter 14-69. Like Letter 14-69, Letter 14-126 provided no-action 1 7 U.S.C. §6m(1). The Act is found at 7 U.S.C. §§1 et seq. (2012). It may be accessed through the Commission’s website, www.cftc.gov. 2 October 15, 2014. This, and the other Commission staff letters referenced in this letter, is available on the Commission’s website, www.cftc.gov.