Friday, January 22, 2021
On January 19, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Market Participants Division (MPD) and Division of Market Oversight (DMO) issued CFTC Staff Letter No. 21-04 and Letter No. 21-05 (the Staff Letters) to extend, for a limited time, parts of the temporary no-action relief granted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which expired on January 15.
CFTC Staff Letter No. 21-04 extends until March 31 the following relief initially granted on March 17, 2020:
Oral Communications Recordkeeping Relief. MPD is extending relief from CFTC regulations requiring recording of oral communications related to voice trading and other telephonic communications for introducing brokers (IBs) and floor brokers (FBs). In conjunction with MPD’s relief, DMO is providing designated contract markets (DCMs) relief from certain CFTC regulations related to audit trails and related requirements where non-compliance arises from the inability of IBs and FBs to record v