On March 28, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight issued an interpretive statement regarding the auditor independence standards applicable to futures commission merchants (FCMs) and dually registered FCM/broker dealers (FCM/BDs). The interpretive statement indicates that an FCM, dually registered FCM/BD or auditor that complies with the auditor independence requirements in Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 17a-5 will also be deemed to comply with CFTC Regulation 1.16. The interpretation also clarifies that CFTC Regulation 1.16 does not require an auditor to comply with the ethics and auditor independence provisions relating to tax services and the pre-approval of certain non-audit services set forth in Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Rules 3523, 3524 and 3525 when conducting an audit of a non-issuer FCM or FCM/BD. 

The CFTC interpretation is available here.