NFA Revises Petition to Restrict Exclusions from Commodity Pool Operator Definition

On June 29, National Futures Association (NFA) submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) a petition for rulemaking (the Petition) that would revise the exclusions from the definition of a commodity pool operator (CPO) under CFTC Rule 4.5.¹ The Petition, as originally submitted, would have required the operator of any qualifying entity under Rule 4.5 (such as registered investment companies, banks, and insurance companies) seeking futures- and commodities-related performance to register with the CFTC as a CPO unless certain conditions were met. On August 18, NFA withdrew the Petition and submitted a revised Petition that makes clear NFA continues to support the imposition of the operating restrictions under Rule 4.5 but intends for the restrictions to apply only to registered investment companies.² The revised Petition does not change the restrictions that NFA is proposing.