CFTC Issues No-Action Relief (Letter 13-03) for Certain FCMs Concerning Annual Reports of Chief Compliance Officers (with Lofchie Comment)

The CFTC Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DSIO) issued a no-action letter that provides certain futures commission merchants (FCMs) with limited relief as to the scope of the requirements of the annual report that the firm's chief compliance officer (CCO) must prepare and submit pursuant to CFTC Rule 3.3. The relief provided in the no-action letter would allow CCO to submit annual reports that did not satisfy all of the requirements of Rule 3.3(e) and (f); provided that the reports satisfied the conditions set forth in the no-action letter. The relief is available to all FCMs that: (1) have a fiscal year that ends on March 31, 2013; (2) were registered with the CFTC as of June 4, 2012; and (3) are not currently regulated by a U.S. prudential regulator or registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Covered Firms). The no-action letter enumerates the subjects that must be addressed in the Annual Report of a Covered Firm for the fiscal year that ends on March 31, 2013. The letter also provides relief concerning the scope of the certification that a CCO must execute with respect to the Annual Report.

Lofchie Comment:The current no action letter generally excuses, for the reasons described in the letter, a firm's CCO from providing a certification as to the items that are set forth in the annual report, EXCEPT THAT the CCO must provide a certification as to the period from March 29 through March 31, 2013 - a period consisting of Good Friday (when the markets are closed), Saturday and Sunday. Wouldn't it be OK to have a no-action letter that concluded with "have a good weekend"?

View no-action letter in full here (links externally to CFTC website).See also: CFTC Issues No-Action Relief for Certain FCMs Concerning Annual Reports of CCO (related CFTC Letter 12-47).