CFTC Unanimously Approves Amendments to Form CPO-PQR

On October 6, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) unanimously approved a final rule adopting amendments to Form CPO-PQR for commodity pool operators (CPOs). These rule changes were originally proposed in April and were the subject of a Katten client advisory, available here.

The amendments, which were adopted in substantially the same form as they were originally proposed, (1) eliminate existing Schedules B and C of the form, except for the Pool Schedule of Investments; (2) amend the information requirements and instructions to request Legal Entity Identifiers for commodity pool operators and their operated pools that have them and to delete questions regarding pool auditors and marketers; and (3) make certain other changes due to the rescission of Schedules B and C, including the elimination of all existing reporting thresholds. These amendments will generally streamline and harmonize the filing obligations for all registered CPOs, in contrast to the current form, which requires different levels of reporting based on the amount of assets managed by the reporting CPO.

The final rule also amends CFTC Regulation 4.27 to permit reporting CPOs to file NFA Form PQR (which, as a result of these changes, will collect substantially identical information to that required by the Form CPO-PQR) in lieu of filing the CFTC’s revised form. However, the amendments will also eliminate the ability of CPOs who are dually-registered as investment advisers with the Securities and Exchange Commission to file Form PF — the private fund reporting form that must be filed by certain SEC-registered investment advisers — in lieu of filing portions of the Form CPO-PQR.

The amendments will take effect 30 days after their publication in the Federal Register, but the first report to be filed on the revised version of the form will be due on May 30, 2021 (reporting on the calendar quarter ending on March 31, 2021).

The press release announcing these changes is available here.

The voting draft, which includes effective and compliance dates, is available here.

CFTC and the Office of Financial Research Sign Memorandum of Understanding to Allow Information Sharing

On October 6, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Office of Financial Research (OFR) that permits the CFTC to share with OFR information and data reported on Form CPO-PQR. OFR intends to use this data to carry out its statutory responsibilities and functions, which include conducting financial stability-related research and collecting data on behalf of the Financial Stability Oversight Council.

The press release announcing the MOU is available here.

The MOU is available here.