The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Market Oversight (DMO) has issued CFTC Letter No. 16-10, which provides temporary no-action relief from certain trade option reporting requirements to market participants that are neither swap dealers nor major swap participants (Non-SD/MSPs). CFTC Letter No. 16-10, taken together with CFTC Letter No. 13-08, provide reporting relief to Non-SD/MSPs as follows:

• With respect to a Non-SD/MSP that has become obligated as a reporting party to comply with the reporting requirements of Part 45 of the CFTC’s Regulations during the preceding 12 months in connection with any non-trade option swap trading activity, CFTC Letters Nos. 13-08 and 16-10 provide that such Non-SD/MSP may report its 2015 trade options on Form TO by April 1, 2016 in lieu of reporting the trade options pursuant to Part 45 of the CFTC’s Regulations. Pursuant to CFTC Letter No. 13-08, any such Non-SD/MSP additionally must notify DMO via email within 30 days of entering into trade options having an aggregate notional value in excess of $1 billion annually.
• CFTC Letter No. 16-10 provides that all other Non-SD/MSPs are exempt from the requirement to report their trade options for 2015 on Form TO.

CFTC Letter No. 16-10 is available here. CFTC Letter No. 13-08, which also provides relief with respect to trade option recordkeeping requirements, is available here.