On 11 July 2014, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission's ("CFTC") Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight ("DSIO") issued a no-action letter announcing relief for futures commission merchants ("FCMs") from compliance with certain CFTC regulations.
Specifically, CFTC Regulations 1.20(d)(3)(i) and (ii), 1.26, 22.5, and 30.7(d)(3)(i) and (ii) require that FCMs deposit customer funds only with depositories that have provided the FCM with an acknowledgement letter in which such depositories agree to provide the DSIO Director (or such director's designees) with direct, read-only electronic access to transaction and account balance information for FCM customer accounts. Under the no-action letter, FCMs would not have to comply with these requirements until 17 October 2014.
The full text of the CFTC no-action letter is available at: http://www.cftc.gov/ucm/groups/public/@lrlettergeneral/documents/letter/14-91.pdf.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.