The LME said the customer name must be the same in the records of both the carrying and the executing member. CTAs that were registered with the National Futures Association in the U.S. were restricted by their regulator to the role of advisors and could not be principals to LME contracts, the LME said. It added that this precluded them from acting as a customer on LME give-up agreements. "Members should determine their regulatory status before accepting them as customers," the LME said. Earlier, the LME had proposed that its members should report large positions in traded options for all strikes, rather than just for strikes in a band around the "at-the-money" level. In a letter to members, AlanWhiting, the LME executive director, regulation and compliance, had made it clear that members have been reporting option positions for strikes within a band which is 10 per cent above and below the "at-the-money" level.

"As a result, information on options whose strikes are outside this band are not currently reported," Whiting said. He said this unreported information can be significant in the assessment of potential effects of option positions on the underlying market. "It is therefore proposed that positions for all strikes should be reported," he said.

"Members will be required to report option positions without any future offsets, strike by strike, irrespective of the size of the positions or whether these are puts or calls or longs or shorts, unless the aggregate sum of option positions, for all strike prices in `absolute lots' (IE aggregated puts/calls/longs/shorts) is below the reporting limit for that metal," he added. The LME proposed that for its new silver and LME metal index contracts thereporting thresholds be set initially at 10 lots, although as the contracts became established and volumes rose these thresholds could be reviewed. It hoped that the new procedure could be implemented from July 1, 1999 and it invited comments, saying that the consultation period would close on April 23, 1999.