Late Fee for CTA and CPO Quarterly Reports On June 21, 2016, the National Futures Association (“NFA”) announced an amendment to NFA Compliance Rule 2-46 (“Rule 2-46”), which will a impose late fee for commodity trading advisors (“CTAs”) and commodity pool operators (“CPOs”) quarterly reports filed after the due date. Form PQR is the quarterly report for CPOs and Form PR is the quarterly report for CTAs. As per the amendment, CTAs and CPOs will be fined $200 for each business day the quarterly report is past due. The effective date of the amendment to Rule 2-46 will begin with…...

NATIONAL FUTURES ASSOCIATION CPO and CTA Quarterly Reporting Requirements for Period Ending March 31, 2016 Each commodity pool operator (“CPO”) Member and commodity trading advisor (“CTA”) Member with reporting requirements under Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Regulation 4.27 is required to comply with National Futures Association (“NFA”) quarterly reporting requirements. NFA Compliance Rule 2-46 imposes quarterly reporting requirements on CPOs operating commodity pools and on CTA that direct trading of commodity trading interests. The CTA quarterly report (“Form CPR”) is used to collect general information about the reporting CTA and its trading program(s). For the period ending March 31, 2016,…...

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network  The Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) updated its list of jurisdictions with strategic anti-money laundering (“AML”) and counter-terrorist financing (“CFT”) deficiencies. In response, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued an advisory in January announcing the updates to the list of jurisdictions identified as having strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT regimes. Countries with inadequate AML/CFT programs, as identified by FATF, are categorized as: (i)  jurisdictions that are subject to FATF’s call for countermeasures or are subject to enhanced due diligence (“EDD”) due to their AML/CFT deficiencies; and (ii) jurisdictions identified by FATF to have AML/CFT deficiencies.…...

NATIONAL FUTURES ASSOCIATION 2015 Annual Pool Financial Statement Requirements The National Futures Association (“NFA”) has distributed reminder notices regarding filing requirements under Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Regulations 4.7, 4.12 and 4.22 (“Annual Report Notice”) to Registered commodity pool operators (“CPOs”). Pursuant to CFTC Regulations, CPOs are required to distribute a certified audit (“Annual Report”) to investors within ninety (90) days after the fiscal year-end. Additionally, the Annual Report must be submitted to the NFA through the EasyFile system. For the December 31, 2015, fiscal year end, the Annual Report is due to the NFA and investors by March 30,…...

COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION  Extension of Time-Limited No-Action Relief from Certain Recordkeeping Requirements  On December 8th, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued a press release regarding the no-action letter issued by the Pision of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight and Pision of Market Oversight (Press Release: PR729-15) . The no-action letter extended the relief relating to records of oral communications, which was originally set forth in CFTC Staff Letter No. 14-147, from 2014. The relief in Letter No. 14-147 was set to expire on December 31, 2015.  The 2014 letter granted no-action relief to commodity trading advisors (“CTAs”) that…...

COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION Form CPO-PQR and FORM CTA-PR Frequently Asked Questions On November 5, 2015, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (“CFTC”) Division of Swap Dealers and Intermediary Oversight (“DSIO”) published a Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”) regarding Form CPO-PQR (“Form PQR”) and Form CTA-PR (“Form PR”). Generally, the Form PQR is a quarterly report filed by commodity pool operators (“CPOs”) and the Form PR is a quarterly report filed by commodity trading advisers (“CTAs”). The DSIO FAQs includes fifty-three (53) questions regarding Form PQR and twelve (12) questions pertaining to Form PR. The purpose of the FAQs was for the…...

NFA’s Articles of Incorporation were amended to reduce the size of NFA’s Board of Directors from 37 to 29 Directors. The new Board structure will be in place in February 2016, and all current Directors’ terms expire at the Board’s regular Annual Meeting on February 18, 2016. In accordance with NFA Bylaw 406, the Office of the Secretary has received from the 2015 Nominating Committee a list of its nominees for positions on NFA’s Board of Directors and 2016 Nominating Committee. The terms of the new Member Director positions have been staggered as determined by the respective Subcommittees of the…...

NATIONAL FUTURES ASSOCIATION Information Systems Security Programs – Cybersecurity On October 23rd the National Futures Association (“NFA”) announced the adoption of the interpretive notice regarding NFA Compliance Rules 2-9, 2-36 and 2-49. The purpose of the interpretive notice was to address information systems security programs – cybersecurity. The interpretive notice entitled Information Systems Security Programs (“Cybersecurity Interpretive Notice”) was recently approved by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”). The Cybersecurity Interpretive Notice requires Member firms to adopt and enforce written policies and procedures to secure customer data and access to their electronic systems. The terms of the Interpretive Notice become…...

Dear Members: Lately I’ve been reading a lot about the “vanishing FCM.” In the July issue of our newsletter, Marc Nagel wrote an excellent article on the subject. And Ginger Szala wrote an equally thoughtful piece for CTA Intelligence a few months ago. NFA records list 62 FCMs registered in late July of this year. Contrast that number with 189 registered in 2004, 130 in 2008 and 82 registered FCMs as recently as mid-2013. The rising costs of compliance and FCM capital charge changes are most often cited as the main reasons for the declining numbers. Interest income on deposits,…...

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Redesigned FINRA Website In March, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced the launch of its newly redesigned website. Two key factors were the driving force behind the updates to the website: improve the user-experience of BrokerCheck and creating a more mobile-friendly interface to address the increase traffic to the website from mobile devices. The launch of the website was announced in a March 16th press release. The press release included a quote from FINRA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Richard Ketchum in which he states that the new website “demonstrates our commitment to providing a…...