Notice to Members I-10-21
October 13, 2010
NFA offers guidance on CFTC's final forex regulations
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) final Forex regulations are effective on October 18, 2010. NFA staff has received a number of inquiries from Members seeking further guidance and clarification on certain requirements. Based on further consultation with CFTC staff on Friday, October 8th, this Notice provides additional guidance on the following areas:
Risk Disclosure Statement Required by CFTC Regulation 5.5
CFTC Regulation 5.5 prohibits FCMs, RFEDs, and in the case of an introduced account, IBs from opening a retail Forex account until the FCM, RFED or IB has provided the customer with the required disclosure statement, along with the most recent quarterly customer account performance information, and obtained a signed acknowledgement of receipt of the disclosure document from the customer. Firms are not required to provide this disclosure statement to, or obtain the disclosure document acknowledgement from, a customer who opened an account prior to October 18, 2010 (existing customers). Additionally, firms are not required to provide the most recent quarterly customer account performance information to existing customers unless the customer requests the information.
Qualifying Institutions for Holding Assets Equal to Retail Forex Obligation
CFTC Regulation 5.8 identifies the financial entities that may be used to hold assets equal to the total amount owed to U.S. customers for Forex transactions. Assets may only be held in the U.S. or a money center country defined in Regulation 1.49. Qualifying institutions in the U.S. are limited to U.S. regulated banks or trust companies, SEC registered broker-dealers that are also members of FINRA and CFTC registered FCMs that are also members of NFA. Qualifying Institutions in a money center country are limited to banks or trust companies with regulatory capital in excess of $1 billion; broker-dealer or FCM equivalents with regulatory capital in excess of $100 million; and FCMs registered with the CFTC and members of NFA. RFEDs are not a qualifying entity for holding these assets. However, pursuant to CFTC Regulation 5.7, funds held at an RFED may be included as a current asset for minimum net capital purposes.
IB, CPO and CTA Registration
Otherwise regulated entities set forth in Section 2(c)(2)(B)(ii)(II)(aa), (bb), (ee) or (ff) of the Commodity Exchange Act do not have to be registered in the appropriate capacity with the CFTC in order to solicit retail Forex orders, manage retail Forex accounts or operate a retail Forex pool. This includes an otherwise regulated entity, such as a broker-dealer, that introduces retail Forex business to an FCM or RFED.
Other Registration Issues
Every firm that is required to be registered as an FCM, RFED, IB, CPO or CTA in connection with its Forex activity must be approved by NFA as a Forex firm. NFA Members are prohibited from engaging in retail Forex transactions with these firms unless the firm has received this designation. In addition, Forex firms must have at least one principal who is registered as an Associated Person (AP) and is approved as a Forex AP. All individuals who solicit retail Forex business or who supervise that activity must have taken and passed two exams --- the National Commodity Futures Examination (Series 3) and the Retail Off Exchange Forex Examination (Series 34), which is a new exam focusing exclusively on Forex-related questions. However, individuals who were registered as APs, sole proprietors or floor brokers on May 22, 2008, do not need to take the Series 34 exam unless there has been a two year gap in their registration since that date.
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Anyone needing additional information on these regulations should contact Sharon Pendleton (312-781-1401 or spendleton@nfa.futures.org) or Lauren Brinati (312-781-1215 or lbrinati@nfa.futures.org).
