The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation and Swift have launched a web portal at www.ciciutility.org to begin assigning CFTC Interim Compliant Identifiers (CICIs) after being designated by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission to do so.
The CFTC announced plans earlier this year to designate a CICI utility that would be able to issue identifiers to firms involved in OTC derivatives trading, and would ultimately comply with the global framework for a Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) from the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the G20.
The CICI was awarded through a competitive proposal process and is designed to be fully compliant with the ISO 17442 LEI standard endorsed and recommended by the FSB.
Identification of legal entities is recognized as a critical element to aid regulators and financial market participants alike in measuring and managing systemic risk. The requirement to provide a LEI is prominent in regulatory rulemaking around the globe as a key data element needed in G20-mandated OTC derivatives reporting. The use of LEIs is also emerging in other regulatory data collection rulemaking proposals.
The new utility established by DTCC and SWIFT will also be assisted by the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) in registering and validating entities going forward extending a federated approach to the CICI and ultimately to the LEI under the FSB’s framework.
“We are delighted to have been selected by the CFTC with Swift to provide CICIs in accordance with the ISO 17442 standard. A standard way of identifying counterparties will help regulators and market participants better aggregate risk and exposures on a global scale,” says William Hodash (pictured), DTCC managing director, business development.
According to the CFTC, the new identifier must be used by registered swap dealers and major swap market participants beginning on the effective date for the CFTC final swap reporting and recordkeeping rule, which is 12 October 2012 for OTC derivatives transactions in credit default swaps and interest rate swaps.
“Swift is very pleased to have been chosen to work on this interim program with DTCC to provide the CICI for firms subject to CFTC jurisdiction. We look forward to moving ahead with this first step to the global LEI solution,” says Paul Janssens, Swift LEI programme director. “We are continuing to work with regulators and the industry globally to provide a fully formed and practical solution to solve the LEI challenge. This includes further work to evolve the solution to a federated data contribution and validation model over time.”
