CFTC Announces Self-Executing No-Action Relief For Delegating CPOs

On October 15, 2014, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a no-action relief letter granting self-executing registration no-action relief to qualifying commodity pool operators (CPOs) that delegate their CPO functions to other registered CPOs. This new letter further simplifies the streamlined CPO delegation process announced by the CFTC in May by removing the need for a delegating CPO (Delegating CPO) to submit a written relief request to the CFTC. In addition, the new letter clarifies in helpful ways certain of the criteria that a Delegating CPO must satisfy in order to claim no-action relief under the streamlined process.

Background

A CPO of a commodity pool is required to register with the CFTC, unless it is excluded or exempted from registration. In certain cases, a CPO may choose to delegate its CPO functions to another person that is registered as a CPO (Designated CPO) and become exempt from registration. On May 12, 2014, the CFTC