no-action letters

Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Issues Policy on No-Action Letters

On February 18, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a new policy statement on No-Action Letters.

Under the Policy, Bureau staff, in its discretion, would issue no-action letters (NALs) to specific applicants in instances involving “innovative financial products or services that promise substantial consumer benefit where there is substantial uncertainty whether or how specific provisions of statutes implemented or regulations issued by the Bureau would be applied.”

A NAL would advise the recipient that, subject to its stated limitations, the staff has no present intention to recommend initiation of an enforcement or supervisory action against the requester with respect to a specified matter. However, NALs would be subject to modification or revocation at any time at the discretion of the staff, and may be conditioned on particular undertakings by the applicant with respect to product or service usage and data-sharing with the Bureau. Also, NALs would be nonbinding on the Bureau, and would not bind courts or other actors who might challenge a NAL recipient’s product or service, such as other regulators or parties in litigation.

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Divisions Issue Time-Limited No-Action Letter Extending Relief from Certain Recordkeeping Requirements Under Commission Regulations

On December 8, 2015, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (the “CFTC”) Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight and Division of Market Oversight issued a time-limited no-action letter extending the relief provided in CFTC Letter No. 14-147. The relief would otherwise expire on December 31, 2015 and applies to commodity trading advisors (“CTAs”) that are registered with the CFTC and are members of designated contract markets (“DCMs”) or swap execution facilities (“SEFs”). The extension grants no-action relief to these entities from the requirement to record oral communications, and also to covered market participants from the requirement to link records of oral and written communication that lead to the execution of a transaction in a commodity interest and related cash or forward transactions. Such relief will expire on the effective date of any final CFTC action with respect to the CFTC’s proposal to amend Regulation 1.35(a). Press Release. No-Action Letter.

CFTC Provides Relief in Connection with Erroneous Swap Trades and Swap Trade Confirmations

On April 22, the CFTC issued two no action letters providing relief intended to support the development of swap execution facilities (SEFs) and the trading of swaps on SEFs and designated contract markets (DCMs).  The first no action letter provides relief to SEFs and DCMs from regulations to allow for the correction of trades voided as a result of clerical or operational errors or errors discovered after a trade has been cleared.  The second no action letter provides relief to SEFs from certain requirements concerning trade confirmations required from SEFs for non-cleared swaps.  ReleaseNo Action Letter #1.   No Action Letter #2.

CFTC No-Action Relief

From June 26 through June 28, the CFTC released the following no-action letters:

CFTC No-Action Letters

From December 14 through December 31, 2012, the CFTC released the following no-action letters:

CFTC No-Action Relief for Swap Clearing by Cooperatives and Affiliates

On November 28, the CFTC Division of Clearing and Risk issued time-limited no-action letters granting relief from required clearing under Section 2(h)(1)(A) of the Commodity Exchange Act and the newly adopted Part 50 regulations for (i) certain swaps entered into by qualifying cooperatives and (ii) certain swaps entered into by qualifying affiliated counterparties.  The no-action relief provided by each letter will remain effective until the earlier of April 1, 2013 or the effective date of final rulemaking regarding the clearing exemptions for cooperatives or affiliated counterparties, respectively. CFTC Release (Cooperatives).  CFTC Release (Affiliates).  CFTC No Action Letter (Cooperatives).  CFTC No Action Letter (Affiliates).