Clifford Chance

CFTC Staff Letter Offers Relief to Certain Securitization Vehicles by Specifying Criteria for Exclusion from the Definition of Commodity Pool

15 October 2012

The CFTC's Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight has issued interpretive relief that excludes any securitization vehicle that satisfies five specified criteria from the definition of "commodity pool".  As a result, the operators of these vehicles will not need to register with the CFTC as "commodity pool operators" and the vehicles themselves will not be "covered funds" for purposes of the Volcker Rule as a result of possible "commodity pool" status.  However, this relief does not extend to entities used in a significant number of structured finance transactions, including guarantor entities in covered bond structures, most ABCP conduits, and issuers in most CLO, CDO and synthetic securitizations. 

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