Jefferies Financial 

Services, Inc.

September 29, 2021

VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL (FOIAsubmissions@cftc.gov)

Assistant Secretary of the Commission for FOIA, 

Privacy and Sunshine Acts Compliance 

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Three Lafayette Centre

1155 21st Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20581

Re: FOIA Confidential Treatment Request for Jefferies Financial Services, Inc.

Dear Sir or Madam:

Pursuant to rule 145.9 of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (“CFTC”) regulations, Jefferies

Financial Services, Inc. (“Jefferies”) hereby requests confidential treatment for the attached request for 

temporary relief (“Request”).

Please be advised that disclosure of this Request would reveal Jefferies’ confidential commercial or 

financial information. Jefferies is therefore entitled to confidential treatment of this Request and any 

notes, memoranda, or other materials of any sort that are made by or at the request of the CFTC or its 

staff and which incorporate, refer, or relate to any information contained in the Request, pursuant to 

CFTC rule 145.9(d)(1)(ii). Given the sensitive nature of the information being provided, pursuant to CFTC 

rule 140.98, Jefferies requests that the Request be held in confidence for 120 days from the date of the 

CFTC’s response to this Request.

Any questions regarding this request for confidential treatment, as well as any notes pursuant to the 

provisions of CFTC Regulation 145.9(e), should be directed to my attention. Pursuant to CFTC rule 

145.9(d)(3), my contact details are: 

Ms. Lauri Scoran

Chief Compliance Officer

Jefferies Financial Services, Inc.

520 Madison Avenue

New York, NY 10022

520 Madison Avenue

New York, NY 10022

Jefferies.com

DocuSign Envelope ID: 5479E4FA-2864-4F09-9EE9-BEB1AF252518
Telephone: (212) 707-6302

E-mail: lscoran@jefferies.com

Any questions regarding this request for confidential treatment, as well as any notices pursuant to the 

provisions of CFTC rule 145.9(e), should be directed to my attention at the address and telephone 

number set forth above.

Sincerely,

Lauri Scoran

Chief Compliance Officer

 Jefferies Financial Services, Inc.

cc: Mr. Thomas Smith, Market Participants Division, CFTC (via e-mail only)

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1

Jefferies Financial 

Services, Inc.

September 29, 2021

CERTIFICATION

As required by Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”) Regulation 140.99, I 

hereby certify that the material facts set forth in the letter dated September 29, 2021 to which this 

Certification is attached are true and complete to the best of my knowledge. Furthermore, if at any 

time prior to the issuance of a responsive no-action letter, any material representation made in this 

letter ceases to be true and complete, Jefferies Financial Services, Inc. will ensure that Commission 

staff is informed promptly in writing of all material changes in facts and circumstances.

Signed______________________

Lauri Scoran

Chief Compliance Officer 

Jefferies Financial Services, Inc.

520 Madison Avenue

New York, NY 10022

Jefferies.com

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1

Jefferies Financial 

Services, Inc.

September 29, 2021

Amanda L. Olear

Acting Director

Market Participants Division

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Three Lafayette Center

1155 21st Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20581

Re: Request for Time-limited No Action Relief for use of Internal Models for Capital 

Computations as contemplated by CFTC Regulation 23.102(f)

Dear Ms. Olear,

Jefferies Financial Services, Inc. (“JFSI”) (NFA ID: 0432443) is a provisionally registered swap 

dealer that will become subject to the capital rules set out in Part 23 of the rules of the 

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) on October 6, 2021. JFSI is seeking timelimited no-action relief to permit JFSI, in computing its regulatory capital under regulation 

23.101, to calculate certain market risk and credit risk charges for interest rate products using 

internal models that are expected to be approved for use by the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (“SEC”). Once that approval is obtained, JFSI will provide the certification relating 

to the use of models approved by other regulators that is contemplated by regulation 23.102(f). 

We expect the approval will be granted by the SEC on or before November 1, 2021, so the relief 

we are requesting can be time-limited for a period not to exceed that date.

Background

As you are aware, on October 2, 2020, JFSI submitted a draft of an OTC Derivatives Dealer

(“OTCDD”) application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which updated 

our initial draft OTCDD application dated February 2, 2019, with the intent to register as an 

OTCDD. JFSI will also register as a security-based swap dealer with the SEC no later than 

November 1, 2021. The updated application incorporated feedback from our initial draft 

application and seeks approval to use risk-based models to compute market and credit risk 

deductions for certain products in calculating the capital it must hold as an OTCDD. 

520 Madison Avenue

New York, NY 10022

Jefferies.com

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Because JFSI is subject to regulation by both the CFTC and the SEC, JFSI has elected to be 

subject to the capital requirements of CFTC Rule 23.101(a)(1)(ii)(A). For the same reason, JFSI 

has been seeking SEC approval for certain of its internal models as the basis for its application 

to the CFTC to use those same models to calculate its market and credit risk exposures for 

purposes of the CFTC’s capital rules. JFSI began discussing this general approach with the SEC 

in December of 2016 and with the CFTC in March of 2017. 

After the National Futures Association (“NFA”) acknowledged on October 16, 2020, that JFSI 

was electing to rely on SEC approval of its capital models, JFSI proceeded accordingly and 

submitted to the CFTC and the NFA the information about its capital models required pursuant 

to Rule 23.102(c)(3) (in addition to other similar materials submitted to and discussed with the 

CFTC since last year).

JFSI has submitted a complete OTCDD application that is under review by the SEC, but JFSI 

has been informed that the SEC will not approve the use of internal models prior to October 6, 

2021. Until it receives SEC approval of the use of internal models requested in the application, 

JFSI will be unable to submit the certification described in Rule 23.102(f)(1) to obtain the 

CFTC’s approval to use those internal models for purposes of the CFTC capital rules. 

Request

JFSI, therefore, is respectfully requesting the Markets Participants Division to confirm that it 

would not recommend enforcement action to the Commission if JFSI uses the internal models 

described in its submissions to the CFTC and the NFA to calculate capital charges for certain 

interest-rate products from and after October 6, 2021, but before SEC approval of the models is 

obtained. JFSI is seeking relief for the same models and related products for which approval has 

been requested from the SEC. The duration of the relief would be until the SEC acts on the 

internal model approvals requested in JFSI’s OTCDD application. It bears noting that, even with 

the relief requested in this letter, JFSI will carry more than two times the capital that it will be 

required to hold after all internal model approvals have been obtained from the SEC.

Please let us know if you need any additional information to evaluate this request.

Sincerely,

Lauri Scoran

Chief Compliance Officer 

Jefferies Financial Services, Inc.

212-707-6302

lscoran@jefferies.com

DocuSign Envelope ID: 5479E4FA-2864-4F09-9EE9-BEB1AF252518