Title: Futures Investor Protection Act
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector

Summary:
Futures Investor Protection Act
This bill establishes the Futures Investor Protection Corporation (FIPC) as a nonprofit membership corporation for all futures commission merchants registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In general, the FIPC's powers and duties shall mirror those of the Security Investors Protection Corporation (the nonprofit membership corporation for registered broker-dealers).
In addition, the bill amends the Commodity Exchange Act to establish suitability rules with respect to recommendations by a futures commission merchant to a customer.
The CFTC must review certain guidelines regarding proof of claims, as specified by the bill.


[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 316 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 316

               To protect investors in futures contracts.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 5, 2017

 Mr. Capuano introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
               To protect investors in futures contracts.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Futures Investor Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. FUTURES INVESTORS PROTECTION FUND.

    (a) Futures Investor Protection Corporation.--
            (1) Creation and membership.--
                    (A) Creation.--There is established a nonprofit 
                corporation to be known as the ``Futures Investor 
                Protection Corporation'' (in this Act referred to as 
                the ``FIPC''), which shall not be an agency or 
                establishment of the United States Government.
                    (B) Membership.--
                            (i) Members of fipc.--The FIPC shall be a 
                        membership corporation the members of which 
                        shall be all persons registered under the 
                        Commodity Exchange Act with the Commission as a 
                        futures commission merchant, other than persons 
                        whose principal business, in the determination 
                        of the FIPC, taking into account business of 
                        affiliated entities, is conducted outside the 
                        United States and its territories and 
                        possessions.
                            (ii) Commission review; additional 
                        members.--Subparagraphs (B) and (C) of section 
                        3(a)(2) of SIPA shall apply with respect to 
                        determinations of the FIPC in the same way the 
                        subparagraphs apply with respect to 
                        determinations of the SIPC and to brokers and 
                        dealers referred to in such subparagraph (D).
                            (iii) Disclosure.--Section 3(a)(2)(D) of 
                        SIPA shall apply to futures commission 
                        merchants in the same way the section applies 
                        to brokers and dealers referred to in such 
                        section.
            (2) Powers.--The FIPC shall have all the powers conferred 
        on the SIPC.
            (3) Board of directors.--
                    (A) Functions.--The FIPC shall have a Board of 
                Directors which, subject to the provisions of this Act, 
                shall determine the policies which shall govern the 
                operations of FIPC.
                    (B) Number and appointment.--The Board of Directors 
                shall consist of 7 persons as follows:
                            (i) 1 director shall be appointed by the 
                        Secretary of the Treasury from among the 
                        officers and employees of the Department of the 
                        Treasury.
                            (ii) 1 director shall be appointed by the 
                        Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
                        System from among the officers and employees of 
                        that Board.
                            (iii) 5 directors shall be appointed by the 
                        President, by and with the advice and consent 
                        of the Senate, as follows:
                                    (I) 3 directors shall be selected 
                                from among persons who are associated 
                                with, and representative of different 
                                aspects of, the futures industry, not 
                                all of whom shall be from the same 
                                geographical area of the United States.
                                    (II) 2 directors shall be selected 
                                from the general public from among 
                                persons who are not associated with a 
                                futures commission merchant or a 
                                contract market, or similarly 
                                associated with any self-regulatory 
                                organization or other futures industry 
                                group, and who have not had any such 
                                association during the 2 years 
                                preceding appointment.
                    (C) Chairman and vice chairman.--The President 
                shall designate a Chairman and Vice Chairman from among 
                those directors appointed under subparagraph 
                (B)(iii)(II).
                    (D) Terms.--
                            (i) In general.--Except as provided in 
                        clauses (ii) and (iii), each director shall be 
                        appointed for a term of 3 years.
                            (ii) Initially appointed members.--Of the 
                        directors first appointed under subparagraph 
                        (B)--
                                    (I) 2 shall hold office for a term 
                                expiring on December 31, 2017;
                                    (II) 2 shall hold office for a term 
                                expiring on December 31, 2018; and
                                    (III) 3 shall hold office for a 
                                term expiring on December 31, 2019,
                        as designated by the President at the time they 
                        take office. The designation shall be made in a 
                        manner which will assure that no 2 persons 
                        appointed under the authority of the same 
                        subclause of subparagraph (B)(iii) shall have 
                        terms which expire simultaneously.
                            (iii) Vacancies.--A vacancy in the Board 
                        shall be filled in the same manner as the 
                        original appointment was made. Any director 
                        appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to 
                        the expiration of the term for which the 
                        predecessor of the director was appointed shall 
                        be appointed only for the remainder of the 
                        term. A director may serve after the expiration 
                        of the term for which appointed until the 
                        successor of the director has taken office.
                    (E) Compensation.--All matters relating to 
                compensation of directors shall be as provided in the 
                bylaws of the FIPC.
            (4) Meetings of board; bylaws and rules.--Subsections (d) 
        and (e) of section 3 of SIPA shall apply with respect to the 
        FIPC and the Commission in the same way the subsections apply 
        with respect to the SIPC and the Securities and Exchange 
        Commission.
    (b) FIPC Fund.--
            (1) In general.--The FIPC shall establish, and make 
        deposits into and payments from, an ``FIPC fund'' (in this Act 
        referred to as the ``fund'') in the same manner in which the 
        SIPC has established, and is authorized to make deposits into 
        and payments from, the SIPC fund.
            (2) Assessments.--The FIPC shall impose on its members 
        assessments subject to the same rules that apply to the 
        imposition by the SIPC of assessments on the members of the 
        SIPC.
    (c) Other Provisions.--Sections 5 through 16 of the SIPA shall 
apply with respect to the FIPC and the members, directors, officers, 
and employees of the FIPC, the Commission, the FIPC fund, futures 
commission merchants and their affiliates, futures contracts, futures 
transactions, customers, and debtors in the same way the sections apply 
with respect to the SIPC and the members, directors, officers, and 
employees of the SIPC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SIPC 
fund, persons registered as brokers or dealers (as defined in section 
16(12) of the SIPA) and their affiliates, securities, securities 
transactions, customers (as defined in section 16(2) of the SIPA), and 
debtors (as defined in section 16(5) of the SIPA), respectively.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the 
        Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
            (2) Contract market.--The term ``contract market'' means a 
        board of trade designated as a contract market under the 
        Commodity Exchange Act.
            (3) Futures contract.--The term ``futures contract'' means 
        a contract of sale of a commodity for future delivery, within 
        the meaning of the Commodity Exchange Act.
            (4) Futures commission merchant.--The term ``futures 
        commission merchant'' has the meaning given the term in section 
        1a(28) of the Commodity Exchange Act.
            (5) SIPA.--The term ``SIPA'' means the Security Investors 
        Protection Act of 1970.
            (6) SIPC.--The term ``SIPC'' means the Security Investors 
        Protection Corporation.
            (7) SIPC fund.--The term ``SIPC fund'' means the fund 
        established under section 4(a)(1) of the SIPA.

SEC. 3. SUITABILITY RULES.

    (a) In General.--The Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) is 
amended by inserting after section 4t the following:

``SEC. 4U. SUITABILITY RULES.

    ``(a) In General.--
            ``(1) Recommendations must be suitable for the customer.--A 
        futures commission merchant shall not recommend a transaction 
        or investment strategy involving a contract of sale of a 
        commodity for future delivery, unless the futures commission 
        merchant has a reasonable basis to believe that the transaction 
        or investment strategy is suitable for the customer, based on 
        the information obtained through the reasonable diligence of 
        the futures commission merchant to ascertain the customer's 
        investment profile. A customer's investment profile includes, 
        but is not limited to, the customer's age, other investments, 
        financial situation and needs, tax status, investment 
        objectives, investment experience, investment time horizon, 
        liquidity needs, risk tolerance, and any other information the 
        customer may disclose to the futures commission merchant in 
        connection with the recommendation.
            ``(2) Safe harbor in certain cases.--A futures commission 
        merchant is deemed to comply with paragraph (1) in the case of 
        a customer with an institutional account, if--
                    ``(A) the futures commission merchant has a 
                reasonable basis to believe that the customer is 
                capable of evaluating investment risks independently, 
                both in general and with regard to particular 
                transactions and investment strategies involving a 
                contract of sale of a commodity for future delivery; 
                and
                    ``(B) the customer affirmatively indicates that it 
                is exercising independent judgment in evaluating the 
                recommendations of the futures commission merchant.
    ``(b) Applicability With Respect to Certain Agents.--If a customer 
with an institutional account has delegated decisionmaking authority to 
an agent, subsection (a) shall be applied with respect to the agent.
    ``(c) Institutional Account Defined.--In this section, the term 
`institutional account' means the account of--
            ``(1) a bank, savings and loan association, insurance 
        company or registered investment company;
            ``(2) an investment adviser registered with the Securities 
        and Exchange Commission under section 203 of the Investment 
        Advisers Act or with a State securities commission (or any 
        agency or office performing like functions); or
            ``(3) any other person (whether a natural person, 
        corporation, partnership, trust or otherwise) with total assets 
        of at least $50,000,000.
    ``(d) Penalties.--The Commission may impose one or more of the 
following sanctions on a person found by the Commission to have 
violated this section or to have neglected or refused to comply with an 
order issued by the Commission under this section:
            ``(1) Censure.
            ``(2) A fine.
            ``(3) Expulsion of the person from, or revocation of the 
        membership of the person in, a registered entity.
            ``(4) Suspension for a definite period or a period 
        contingent on the performance of a particular act, or 
        revocation, of the registration of the person under this Act 
        with the Commission as a futures commission merchant.
            ``(5) Suspension or bar of the person from association with 
        any other futures commission merchant.
            ``(6) A temporary or permanent cease and desist order 
        against the person.
            ``(7) Any other fitting sanction.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--Within 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission shall 
issue regulations for the implementation of the amendment made by 
subsection (a).

SEC. 4. REVIEW OF PROOF OF CLAIMS RULES.

    (a) In General.--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission shall 
review the guidelines for establishing account classes and determining 
the basis for pro rata shares under, and the sample claim form set 
forth in, part 190 of title 17, Code of Federal Regulations, and 
consider the desirability of allowing use of a set date for valuation 
purposes rather than the date of actual liquidation of positions.
    (b) Report to the Congress.--Within 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission shall 
submit to the Congress a written report that contains the findings of 
the Commission with respect to the matters referred to in subsection 
(a), and includes such changes to the regulations in such part as the 
Commission deems appropriate.
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