Notices to Members

December 5, 2023

CPO Members—Effective date of FinCEN's beneficial ownership reporting rule

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a final rule establishing beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements for existing and newly formed corporations, limited liability companies and similar entities (collectively referred to as a "reporting company"). As of January 1, 2024, subject to certain exemptions, reporting companies will be required to file a report with FinCEN identifying their BOI. Generally, BOI refers to identifying information about the individuals who directly or indirectly own or a control a reporting company.

FinCEN's final rule implements the Corporate Transparency Act's (Act) beneficial ownership reporting provisions. Under the Act, CFTC-registered entities are exempt from the reporting requirement. However, a pooled investment vehicle (PIV), such as a commodity pool, will be required to comply with FinCEN's reporting rule unless it qualifies for another exemption under the Act. Importantly, the Act exempts from the BOI reporting requirement any PIV operated or advised by an SEC-registered broker dealer (BD) or investment advisor (IA). As a result, a commodity pool operated or advised by an SEC-registered BD or IA is exempt from the reporting requirement.

However, NFA Member commodity pool operators (CPO) which operate a commodity pool that does not qualify for an exemption under the Act will be required to report BOI to FinCEN for any commodity pools they operate in accordance with the following deadlines.

• For a commodity pool created or registered to do business before January 1, 2024, a CPO must file a BOI report with FinCEN by January 1, 2025.
• For a commodity pool created or registered on or after January 1, 2024, a CPO must file a BOI report with FinCEN within 90 days from the time the CPO receives actual notice that the commodity pool's creation or registration is effective. In addition, for any commodity pool created or registered on or after January 1, 2024, a CPO will need to report the commodity pool's company applicants. A company applicant is the individual who directly files the document that creates or registers the company.

FinCEN will not accept any BOI reports prior to January 1, 2024, and FinCEN has emphasized that reporting companies should not submit any BOI reports prior to that date.

These requirements are intended to help prevent and combat money laundering, terrorist financing, corruption, tax fraud and other illicit activity, while minimizing the burden on entities doing business in the U.S.

For more information regarding FinCEN's BOI reporting rule, including how to file a BOI report, NFA encourages CPO Members to consult FinCEN's dedicated BOI webpage, which contains reference materials and additional resources concerning BOI and reporting obligations.