CFTC Staff Letter 18-16: No-Action Relief from CPO Registration for Entity A Acting as Trustee of Pool B

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. 18-16
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”). 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 of the “B” (the “Pool”). Instead, you state that “A” will delegate certain of its responsibilities as the CPO of the Pool to “C”, 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”),3 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. 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 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. 3 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).