How to register as a CPO or a CTA?

Many hedge fund managers choose to utilize futures and/or commodities in their trading purposes. Generally such managers will need to register as commodity pool operators (“CPO”) and as commodity trading advisors (“CTA”). The hedge fund itself will be deemed to be a commodity pool. For purposes of the Commodities Exchange Act (“CEA”), a future and commodity are functionally equal as it relates to hedge fund manager registration. Registration as a CPO or a CTA is an often overlooked part of the hedge fund formation process. Your attorney should discuss the requirements for registration and whether any exemptions from registration are available.

In addition to hedge fund managers, retail foreign exchange (“Forex”) managers may very soon be required to register because of the recently passed “Farm Bill.” The retail Forex markets have been very loosely regulated and the CFTC and NFA have been clamoring for authority to regulate this are of the markets. Accordingly, this article will give you the basics on how to register as a CPO and/or a CTA.

A very general outline of the CPO registration process is as follows:

Prerequisite – the Series 3 exam

Each CPO or CTA firm will need to have at least one Associated Person (AP). Generally an AP will be anyone in the firm who has contact with clients in something more than a purely administrative or clerical role. All managers and non-clerical employees will be APs. All APs must have passed the Series 3 exam. Information on the Series 3 exam:

• Series 3 (National Commodity Futures Examination)
• Cost: $95
• Number of Questions: 120 True/False and Multiple Choice
• Subject Matter: (part 1) Market knowledge and (part 2) U.S. regulations
• Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
• Passing Score: 70% for each part

Like the Series 65 exam, I highly recommend you spend plenty of time studying for the exam. If you would like some suggestions on various study guides, please let me know.

Filing the application forms with the NFA

During this process your compliance professional will: gain access to the NFA’s registration system on your behalf, input certain basic information on the Form 7-R (for your CPO/CTA firm) and Form 8-R (for the initial AP) – generally you will provide this information to your compliance professional prior to completing these forms, and submit the 7-R and 8-R on your firms behalf.

After the Form 7-R and 8-R have been submitted you will need to pay for registration ($200 registration fee for the CPO or CTA; $85 for each associated person or principal; $750 for NFA membership (this is an annual fee)). After payment has been submitted, the NFA will review your application. Typically registration should be complete within about 3-5 weeks. The next step will be to have your disclosure document approved by the NFA – your compliance professional can help you with this process.

You will be able to check on your registration through the NFA’s BASIC system.

Definitions

According to the CFTC website, the definition of CPO and CTA are as follows:

Commodity Pool Operator (CPO): A person engaged in a business similar to an investment trust or a syndicate and who solicits or accepts funds, securities, or property for the purpose of trading commodity futures contracts or commodity options. The commodity pool operator either itself makes trading decisions on behalf of the pool or engages a commodity trading advisor to do so.

Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA): A person who, for pay, regularly engages in the business of advising others as to the value of commodity futures or options or the advisability of trading in commodity futures or options, or issues analyses or reports concerning commodity futures or options.

Associated Person (AP): An individual who solicits or accepts (other than in a clerical capacity) orders, discretionary accounts, or participation in a commodity pool, or supervises any individual so engaged, on behalf of a futures commission merchant, an introducing broker, a commodity trading advisor, a commodity pool operator, or an agricultural trade option merchant.By Hedge Fund Lawyer

What is a qualified purchaser?

We have previously discussed the difference between a 3(c)(1) hedge fund and a 3(c)(7) hedge fund. Unlike a 3(c)(1) hedge fund where investors only generally need to be accredited investors and potentially qualified clients, all investors in a 3(c)(7) hedge fund must be “qualified purchasers.” A qualified purchaser is a greater requirement than an accredited investor and a qualified client. Generally only super high net worth individuals and institutional investors will fit within the definition of qualified client. Because of this fact there are less 3(c)(7) hedge funds than 3(c)(1) hedge funds. Also, most 3(c)(7) funds are going to be funds with greater intial investment requirements and will be marketed towards the institutional market. Because of this 3(c)(7) hedge fund will tend to have greater assets than many 3(c)(1) hedge funds.

The definition of “qualified purchaser” is found in the Investment Company Act of 1940. The definition includes:

i. any natural person (including any person who holds a joint, community property, or other similar shared ownership interest in an issuer that is excepted under section 3(c)(7) with that person’s qualified purchaser spouse) who owns not less than $ 5,000,000 in investments, as defined below;

ii. any company that owns not less than $ 5,000,000 in investments and that is owned directly or indirectly by or for 2 or more natural persons who are related as siblings or spouse (including former spouses), or direct lineal descendants by birth or adoption, spouses of such persons, the estates of such persons, or foundations, charitable organizations, or trusts established by or for the benefit of such persons;

iii. any trust that is not covered by clause (ii) and that was not formed for the specific purpose of acquiring the securities offered, as to which the trustee or other person authorized to make decisions with respect to the trust, and each settlor or other person who has contributed assets to the trust, is a person described in clause (i), (ii), or (iv); or


iv. any person, acting for its own account or the accounts of other qualified purchasers, who in the aggregate owns and invests on a discretionary basis, not less than $ 25,000,000 in investments.

v. any qualified institutional buyer as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act, acting for its own account, the account of another qualified institutional buyer, or the account of a qualified purchaser, provided that (i) a dealer described in paragraph (a)(1)(ii) of Rule 144A shall own and invest on a discretionary basis at least $25,000,000 in securities of issuers that are not affiliated persons of the dealer; and (ii) a plan referred to in paragraph (a)(1)(D) or (a)(1)(E) of Rule 144A, or a trust fund referred to in paragraph (a)(1)(F) of Rule 144A that holds the assets of such a plan, will not be deemed to be acting for its own account if investment decisions with respect to the plan are made by the beneficiaries of the plan, except with respect to investment decisions made solely by the fiduciary, trustee or sponsor of such plan;

vi. any company that, but for the exceptions provided for in Sections 3(c)(1) or 3(c)(7) under the ICA, would be an investment company (hereafter in this paragraph referred to as an “excepted investment company”), provided that all beneficial owners of its outstanding securities (other than short-term paper), determined in accordance with Section 3(c)(1)(A) thereunder, that acquired such securities on or before April 30, 1996 (hereafter in this paragraph referred to as “pre-amendment beneficial owners”), and all pre-amendment beneficial owners of the outstanding securities (other than short-term paper) or any excepted investment company that, directly or indirectly, owns any outstanding securities of such excepted investment company, have consented to its treatment as a qualified purchaser.

vii. any natural person who is deemed to be a “knowledgeable employee” of the [fund], as such term is defined in Rule 3c-5(4) of the ICA; or

viii. any person (“Transferee”) who acquires Interests from a person (“Transferor”) that is (or was) a qualified purchaser other than the [fund], provided that the Transferee is: (i) the estate of the Transferor; (ii) a person who acquires the Interests as a gift or bequest pursuant to an agreement relating to a legal separation or divorce; or (iii) a company established by the Transferor exclusively for the benefit of (or owned exclusively by) the Transferor and the persons specified in this paragraph.

ix. any company, if each beneficial owner of the company’s securities is a qualified purchaser.

For the purpsoes of above, the term Investments means:
(1) securities (as defined by section 2(a)(1)of the Securities Act of 1933), other than securities of an issuer that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, the prospective qualified purchaser that owns such securities, unless the issuer of such securities is: (i) an investment vehicle; (ii) a public company; or (iii) a company with shareholders’ equity of not less than $50 million (determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) as reflected on the company’s most recent financial statements, provided that such financial statements present the information as of a date within 16 months preceding the date on which the prospective qualified purchaser acquires the securities of a Section 3(c)(7) Company;

(2) real estate held for investment purposes;

(3) commodity interests held for investment purposes;

(4) physical commodities held for investment purposes;

(5) to the extent not securities, financial contracts (as such term is defined in section 3(c)(2)(B)(ii) of the ICA entered into for investment purposes;

(6) in the case of a prospective qualified purchaser that is a Section 3(c)(7) Company, a company that would be an investment company but for the exclusion provided by section 3(c)(1) of the ICA, or a commodity pool, any amounts payable to such prospective qualified purchaser pursuant to a firm agreement or similar binding commitment pursuant to which a person has agreed to acquire an interest in, or make capital contributions to, the prospective qualified purchaser upon the demand of the prospective qualified purchaser; and

(7) cash and cash equivalents (including foreign currencies) held for investment purposes. For purposes of this section, cash and cash equivalents include: (i) bank deposits, certificates of deposit, bankers acceptances and similar bank instruments held for investment purposes; and (ii) the net cash surrender value of an insurance policy.By Hedge Fund Lawyer