CFTC Staff Letter 18-15: No-Action Relief from CPO Registration for Trustee Delegating to Registered CPO

Division of Swap Dealer and Matthew Kulkin
Intermediary Oversight Director
U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
Three Lafayette Centre
1155 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20581
Telephone: (202) 418-6700
Facsimile: (202) 418-5528 mkulkin@cftc.gov
CFTC Letter No. 18-15
No-Action
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 November 22, 2017, to the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (“Division”) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”), as amended by subsequent correspondence dated April 24, 2018. In the letter, you request on behalf of “A” relief from the requirement to register with the Commission as a commodity pool operator (“CPO”) under section 4m(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA” or “Act”), 1 in connection with its role as trustee to multiple commodity pools organized as series trusts under the “B”, 2 a Cayman Islands umbrella series trust, and to the “C”, 3 a separate commodity pool organized as a Cayman Islands trust (each, a “Pool” and collectively, the “Pools”). Instead, you state that “A” will delegate certain of its responsibilities as the CPO of the Pools to “D”, pursuant to the applicable requirements of CFTC Staff Letter No. 14-126 (“Letter 14-126”),4 except for criterion 6 therein. Background On May 12, 2014, the Division issued CFTC Staff Letter No. 14-69 (“Letter 14-69”),5 which was in response to numerous requests asking that the Division provide no-action relief for 1 7 U.S.C. 6m(1). The Act is found at 7 U.S.C. 1 et seq. (2016). It, and the Commission’s regulations, may be accessed through the Commission’s website, http://www.cftc.gov. 2 Each individual series is a separate commodity pool covered by the relief herein; the list of eligible commodity pools is attached as Appendix A. 3 “C” is listed with the National Futures Association as pool number “X”. 4 CFTC Staff Letter No. 14-126 (Oct. 15, 2014), available at http://www.cftc.gov/idc/groups/public/%40lrlettergeneral/documents/letter/14-126.pdf (last retrieved Mar. 20, 2018). This and the other Commission staff letters referenced herein are also available on the Commission’s website, http://www.cftc.gov. 5 CFTC Staff Letter No. 14-69 (May 12, 2014), available at http://www.cftc.gov/idc/groups/public/@lrlettergeneral/documents/letter/14-69.pdf (last retrieved Mar. 20, 2018).