At a public meeting on November 5, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) voted to propose amendments to its rules requiring the aggregation of certain accounts for purposes of complying with CFTC speculative position limits. The proposed aggregation rules would continue the current practice of evaluating positions on the basis of both ownership and control. These rules require the aggregation of all positions in accounts in which a trader either (i) holds a direct or indirect ownership of 10 percent or more, or (ii) controls trading, by power of attorney or otherwise. As summarized below, the proposal notably retains (with some modifications) many of the “disaggregation” exemptions that are available under existing CFTC Regulations and would also create certain new exemptions.

- Independent Account Controller Exemption. The proposed rule retains the independent account controller exemption, which provides that an “eligible entity” is not required to aggregate client positions controlled by an authorized “independent account controller” (which terms are defined in substantially the same manner as under the CFTC’s current rules). The proposal clarifies that this exemption is applicable only to the positions of the eligible entity’s clients (and not the eligible entity itself) and is not available for physically delivered commodity contracts during the spot month. Persons utilizing the independent account controller exemption are required to file a notice with the CFTC.