DECEMBER 17, 2013
DERIVATIVES UPDATE
Swap Counterparties: Renew Your CICI Numbers Before They
Expire
When DTCC and SWIFT initially developed the CFTC Interim Compliant Identifier Utility Portal (the “CICI
Utility”) to support the global assignment of CFTC Interim Compliant Identifiers (“CICIs”), the fee for obtaining
a CICI was $200 with the first annual $100 certification/maintenance fee being chargeable two years later.
However, effective as of March 2, 2013, the CICI Utility simplified its pricing such that obtaining a new CICI now
requires an initial fee of $100 per CICI with $100 certification/maintenance fees chargeable only one year later,
rather than two years later. In other words, the initial fee for obtaining new CICIs was reduced, but CICIs are
now subject to annual renewal with an associated annual renewal fee. While swap counterparties should receive
a notice from the CICI Utility reminding them to renew their CICIs, these notices may easily go overlooked and
failure to renew in a timely manner results in the expiration of the non-renewed CICIs. Payment must be made,
and annual recertification, which must be done by the legal entity itself whereby it declares that it is the entity
referenced in an existing CICI record contained in the CICI database, done, in each case on an annual basis
through the CICI Utility’s website at www.ciciutility.org. As part of the recertification process, the CICI holder
must confirm or update the reference data contained in the CICI database. Payments to the CICI Utility may be
made via wire submitted on the major wire networks, including ACH, Fed Wire, SWIFT and CHIPS.
As April 10, 2013 was the original deadline for each non-swap dealer and non-major swap participant swap
counterparty to obtain a CICI, and many swap counterparties obtained CICIs months earlier in order to adhere
to the ISDA August 2012 DF protocol, many counterparties are now starting to receive annual renewal notices,
which if sent via email, may get lost or be sent to email addresses that are no longer valid. Accordingly,
investment managers responsible for maintaining CICIs for their funds should update their compliance
programs and procedures to include this annual renewal requirement and watch for renewal deadlines. If a
counterparty fails to renew its CICI in a timely manner, such CICI will expire, causing an inability to trade or a
delay in trading, as a swap counterparty will need to provide a CICI for all new swaps—i.e., all swap
counterparties subject to CFTC jurisdiction are now required to have a CICI for recordkeeping as well as
reporting (including swap execution facility, designated contract market and derivatives clearing organization
reporting) and reporting firms must identify themselves and counterparties with CICIs on transactions
submitted to registered swap data repositories—and a CICI will need to be supplied upon adherence to the ISDA
Dodd-Frank Protocols.
If you have any questions regarding this update, please contact the Sidley lawyer with whom you usually work.
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DERIVATIVES UPDATE
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