17 CFR Appendix F to Part 30 - Appendix F to Part 30—Acknowledgment Letter for CFTC Regulation 30.7 Customer Secured Money Market Mutual Fund Account
We propose to invest funds held by [Name of Futures Commission Merchant] (“we” or “our”) on behalf of our customers in shares of [Name of Money Market Mutual Fund] (“you” or “your”) under account(s) entitled (or shares issued to):
You acknowledge that we are holding these funds, including any shares issued and amounts accruing in connection therewith (collectively, the “Shares”), for the benefit of customers who trade foreign futures and/or foreign options (as such terms are defined in U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Regulation 30.1, as amended); that the Shares held by you, hereafter deposited in the Account(s) or accruing to the credit of the Account(s), will be kept separate and apart and separately accounted for on your books from our own funds and from any other funds or accounts held by us in accordance with the provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act, as amended (the “Act”), and part 30 of the CFTC's regulations, as amended; and that the Shares must otherwise be treated in accordance with the provisions of Section 4(b) of the Act and CFTC Regulations 1.25 and 30.7.
Furthermore, you acknowledge and agree that such Shares may not be used by you or by us to secure or guarantee any obligations that we might owe to you, and they may not be used by us to secure or obtain credit from you. You further acknowledge and agree that the Shares in the Account(s) shall not be subject to any right of offset or lien for or on account of any indebtedness, obligations or liabilities we may now or in the future have owing to you.
In addition, you agree that the Account(s) may be examined at any reasonable time by the director of the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight of the CFTC or the director of the Division of Clearing and Risk of the CFTC, or any successor divisions, or such directors' designees, or an appropriate officer, agent or employee of our designated self-regulatory organization (“DSRO”), [Name of DSRO], and this letter constitutes the authorization and direction of the undersigned on our behalf to permit any such examination to take place without further notice to or consent from us.
You agree to reply promptly and directly to any request for confirmation of account balances or provision of any other information regarding or related to the Account(s) from the director of the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight of the CFTC or the director of the Division of Clearing and Risk of the CFTC, or any successor divisions, or such directors' designees, or an appropriate officer, agent, or employee of [Name of DSRO], acting in its capacity as our DSRO, and this letter constitutes the authorization and direction of the undersigned on our behalf to release the requested information, without further notice to or consent from us.
You further acknowledge and agree that, pursuant to authorization granted by us to you previously or herein, you have provided, or will promptly provide following the opening of the Account(s), the director of the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight of the CFTC, or any successor division, or such director's designees, with technological connectivity, which may include provision of hardware, software, and related technology and protocol support, to facilitate direct, read-only electronic access to transaction and account balance information for the Account(s). This letter constitutes the authorization and direction of the undersigned on our behalf for you to establish this connectivity and access if not previously established, without further notice to or consent from us.
The parties agree that all actions on your part to respond to the above information and access requests will be made in accordance with, and subject to, such reasonable and customary authorization verification and authentication policies and procedures as may be employed by you to verify the authority of, and authenticate the identity of, the individual making any such information or access request, in order to provide for the secure transmission and delivery of the requested information or access to the appropriate recipient(s).
We will not hold you responsible for acting pursuant to any information or access request from the director of the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight of the CFTC or the director of the Division of Clearing and Risk of the CFTC, or any successor divisions, or such directors' designees, or an appropriate officer, agent, or employee of [Name of DSRO], acting in its capacity as our DSRO, upon which you have relied after having taken measures in accordance with your applicable policies and procedures to assure that such request was provided to you by an individual authorized to make such a request.
In the event we become subject to either a voluntary or involuntary petition for relief under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, we acknowledge that you will have no obligation to release the Shares held in the Account(s), except upon instruction of the Trustee in Bankruptcy or pursuant to the Order of the respective U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing to the contrary, nothing contained herein shall be construed as limiting your right to assert any right of offset or lien on assets that are not Shares maintained in the Account(s), or to impose such charges against us or any proprietary account maintained by us with you. Further, it is understood that amounts represented by checks, drafts or other items shall not be considered to be part of the Account(s) until finally collected. Accordingly, checks, drafts and other items credited to the Account(s) and subsequently dishonored or otherwise returned to you or reversed, for any reason and any claims relating thereto, including but not limited to claims of alteration or forgery, may be charged back to the Account(s), and we shall be responsible to you as a general endorser of all such items whether or not actually so endorsed.
You may conclusively presume that any withdrawal from the Account(s) and the balances maintained therein are in conformity with the Act and CFTC regulations without any further inquiry, provided that, in the ordinary course of your business as a depository, you have no notice of or actual knowledge of a potential violation by us of any provision of the Act or part 30 of the CFTC regulations that relates to the holding of customer funds; and you shall not in any manner not expressly agreed to herein be responsible to us for ensuring compliance by us with such provisions of the Act and CFTC regulations; however, the aforementioned presumption does not affect any obligation you may otherwise have under the Act or CFTC regulations.
You may, and are hereby authorized to, obey the order, judgment, decree or levy of any court of competent jurisdiction or any governmental agency with jurisdiction, which order, judgment, decree or levy relates in whole or in part to the Account(s). In any event, you shall not be liable by reason of any action or omission to act pursuant to any such order, judgment, decree or levy, to us or to any other person, firm, association or corporation even if thereafter any such order, decree, judgment or levy shall be reversed, modified, set aside or vacated.
We are permitted to invest customers' funds in money market mutual funds pursuant to CFTC Regulation 1.25. That rule sets forth the following conditions, among others, with respect to any investment in a money market mutual fund:
(1) The net asset value of the fund must be computed by 9:00 a.m. of the business day following each business day and be made available to us by that time;
(2) The fund must be legally obligated to redeem an interest in the fund and make payment in satisfaction thereof by the close of the business day following the day on which we make a redemption request except as otherwise specified in CFTC Regulation 1.25(c)(5)(ii); and,
(3) The agreement under which we invest customers' funds must not contain any provision that would prevent us from pledging or transferring fund shares.
The terms of this letter agreement shall remain binding upon the parties, their successors and assigns and, for the avoidance of doubt, regardless of a change in the name of either party. This letter agreement supersedes and replaces any prior agreement between the parties in connection with the Account(s), including but not limited to any prior acknowledgment letter agreement, to the extent that such prior agreement is inconsistent with the terms hereof. In the event of any conflict between this letter agreement and any other agreement between the parties in connection with the Account(s), this letter agreement shall govern with respect to matters specific to Section 4(b) of the Act and the CFTC's regulations thereunder, as amended.
This letter agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of [Insert governing law] without regard to the principles of choice of law.
Please acknowledge that you agree to abide by the requirements and conditions set forth above by signing and returning to us the enclosed copy of this letter agreement, and that you further agree to provide a copy of this fully executed letter agreement directly to the CFTC (via electronic means in a format and manner determined by the CFTC) and to [Name of DSRO], acting in its capacity as our DSRO. We hereby authorize and direct you to provide such copies without further notice to or consent from us, no later than three business days after opening the Account(s) or revising this letter agreement, as applicable.