The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an Order designating DTCC-Swift as the provider of the legal entity identifiers (LEI), which will be used by registered entities and swap counterparties in complying with the CFTC's swap data reporting regulations.
LEIs, to be known as CFTC Interim Compliant Identifiers or CICIs until establishment of a global LEI system, are essential tools for aggregation of derivatives data. They will be crucial to the ability of CFTC and other financial regulators to use swap data to fulfill the systemic risk monitoring and mitigation, market transparency, and market abuse prevention purposes of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
The CFTC is also participating in an international process, coordinated by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), to establish governance principles and reference data requirements and implement a global LEI system. Once the global LEI system is implemented and operational, the CFTC anticipates that the interim identifier will transition into the global LEI.
Today's Order, issued pursuant to Part 45 of the Commission's regulations, includes findings of fact by the Commission that the CICI provided by DTCC-SWIFT is the only available identifier that satisfies all requirements of the Commission's swap data reporting rules, and can be provided to market participants sufficiently in advance of the initial compliance date for swap data reporting to enable compliance with the rules. Based on these findings of fact, the Commission's Order designates DTCC-SWIFT as the provider of the CICIs to be used in recordkeeping and swap data reporting pursuant to parts 45 and 46 of the Commission's regulations. This designation is made for a limited term of two years, and is subject to four conditions specified in the Order.