On December 30, 2013, the CFTC's Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DISO) issued no-action relief providing chief compliance officers (CCOs) of swap dealers (SDs), major swap participants (MSPs) and futures commission merchants (FCMs) with an extension, from 60 days to 90 days following the end of their fiscal year, for the filing of their 2014 annual reports under CFTC Regulation 3.3(f)(2) (17 C.F.R. § 3.3), mandated under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act. The CFTC also provided permanent no-action relief from filing 2014 CCO annual compliance reports in certain limited circumstances, discussed below.

Section 731 of the Dodd-Frank Act added Section 4s(k) to the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), which requires that each SD and MSP designate an individual to serve as its CCO (Section 732 of Dodd-Frank added Section 4d(d) to the CEA, which imposes similar requirements on FCMs). The CCO must perform the duties and responsibilities required by CFTC Regulations, including Regulation 3.3(f)(2), which requires that CCOs prepare and sign a comprehensive CCO annual report (for details, see Practice Note, The Dodd-Frank Act: Final Internal Business Conduct (IBC) Rules for Swap Dealers and MSPs: February 2012 IBC Reporting and Recordkeeping Rules: Designation of Chief Compliance Officer and Preparation of Annual Compliance Report by SDs, MSPs, and FCMs). The CCO annual report must cover the most recently completed fiscal year of the SD, MSP or FCM and must, at a minimum, include the information enumerated in Regulation 3.3, including a certification by the CCO or CEO.

In connection with the CCO regulations, on December 20 the CFTC issued the following:

CFTC No-action Letter No. 13-84, which extends the deadline for filing a CCO annual report during calendar year 2014 under Regulation 3.3(f)(2) from 60 to 90 days following the end of the fiscal year of the SD, MSP or FCM. The CFTC has extended the time for filing the annual report to align the timing of these reports with reports required of broker-dealer FCMs by FINRA and certain exchanges. FCMs generally complete these FINRA reports within 90 days of their fiscal year-end. The FINRA reports require much of the same information as the CCO annual reports and include a CEO certification. To facilitate the phase-in of the new CCO annual report requirements, the CFTC has allowed all SDs, MSPs and FCMs to file CCO annual reports within a similar timetable, recommending that no enforcement action be taken for failure to file a timely CCO annual report, provided that the annual report is filed within 90 days of the firm's fiscal year-end.

CFTC No-action Letter No. 13-85, which relieves the obligation to file a CCO annual report if the report would include only information for December 31, 2013. SDs that were not required to register with the CFTC as an SD prior to December 31, 2013 and that have a fiscal year-end of December 31, 2013, would otherwise be required to file a CCO annual report that would only cover December 31, 2013 (the only day the firm would have been registered as an SD for the 2013 fiscal year). Due to this anomaly, the CFTC has recommended that no enforcement action be taken against these SDs or their CCOs for failing to file a CCO annual report for the single day of December 31, 2013.