The National Futures Association (NFA) has issued a notice temporarily exempting certain proprietary trading firms that may be required to be registered as commodity pool operators (CPOs) as of December 31, 2012, from the assessment fees that CPOs are otherwise required to pay. NFA Bylaw 1301 generally exempts exchange members from paying assessment fees with respect to transactions effected on that exchange. However, the exemption does not apply to exchange members that are commodity pools operated by CPOs.

Because the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has rescinded exemptions from CPO registration effective December 31, 2012, the CFTC could view certain proprietary trading firms as commodity pools subject to CPO registration. NFA’s Board of Directors will consider the application of the NFA assessment fee to such firms. Until the Board of Directors resolves the issue, any proprietary trading firm that becomes registered as a CPO will remain exempt from the assessment fee if its trading account was exempt from the NFA assessment fee as of December 31, 2012, until further notice from NFA.

NFA Notice I-12-33 is available here.