1

ICE Clear Europe Limited

Registered in England No.06219884

Registered office: Milton Gate, 60 Chiswell Street, London EC1Y 4SA

September 28, 2023

Mr. Christopher J. Kirkpatrick

Office of the Secretariat

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Three Lafayette Centre

1155 21st Street, NW

Washington, DC 20581

Re: ICE Clear Europe Self-Certification Pursuant to Commission Rule Rule 40.6 

– Clearing Membership Policy and Procedures Amendments

Dear Mr. Kirkpatrick:

ICE Clear Europe Limited (“ICE Clear Europe” or the “Clearing House”), a registered 

derivatives clearing organization under the Commodity Exchange Act, as amended (the 

“Act”), hereby submits to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the 

“Commission”), pursuant to Commission Rule 40.6 for self-certification, amendments 

to its (i) Clearing Membership Policy (“Policy”) to update certain monitoring and 

document review procedures and to make certain drafting clarifications and (ii) 

Clearing Membership Procedures (“Procedures”) to clarify the Clearing House’s 

discretion with respect to certain requirements and to add notification requirements, 

among other changes.

1 The amendments will become effective on the first business day 

following the tenth business day after submission, or such later date as ICE Clear 

Europe may determine. 

Concise Explanation and Analysis

I. Clearing Membership Policy

In the discussion of the purpose of the Policy, the amendments will change an incorrect 

reference to “model documents” to “parameter documents” (reflecting that relevant 

1 Capitalized terms used but not defined herein have the meanings specified in the Policy and

Procedures or, if not defined therein, the ICE Clear Europe Clearing Rules. 
2

ICE Clear Europe Limited

Registered in England No.06219884

Registered office: Milton Gate, 60 Chiswell Street, London EC1Y 4SA

parameters are set out in parameter documents). Further changes will clarify that 

Clearing Members are required to notify the Clearing House promptly when there is 

any change to its business which will have an impact on meeting the membership 

criteria. Additionally, the monitoring of membership criteria will be revised to reflect 

that the Clearing House conducts ongoing (rather than only quarterly or other periodic) 

monitoring of compliance with membership criteria. Ongoing monitoring for this 

purpose consists of continuous monitoring and additional trigger-based reviews,

including relating to credit and AML/KYC risk and to daily operational matters (such 

as margin calls). References to quarterly reviews of financial position through Audited 

Annual Accounts, quarterly review of financial information, quarterly updates of the 

Counterparty Rating System (“CRS”), and the requirement to maintain a watch list will 

be removed (as such matters relate to credit issues that are addressed in the Clearing 

House’s Counterparty Credit Risk Policy, and do not need to be referenced in this 

Policy). A cross reference to the Clearing Membership Procedures and the 

Counterparty Credit Risk Policy for monitoring information will also be removed as 

unnecessary. 

The amendments will also update document governance requirements, consistent with 

other ICE Clear Europe policies. Document review will be conducted by the document 

owner or relevant staff, with approval of the head of department (or their delegate) and 

the Chief Risk Officer (or their delegate). The amendments will specify that document 

review, at a minimum, will encompass regulatory compliance, documentation and 

purpose, implementation, use and open items from prior reviews. The results of the 

review will be reported to the Executive Risk Committee (and in certain cases, to the 

Model Oversight Committee). The document owner will aim to remediate any findings, 

complete internal governance and obtain regulatory approvals (as applicable) before the 

next annual review. The amendments will also state explicitly that changes to the 

Policy need to be approved in accordance with the Clearing House governance process 

and take effect after completion of all necessary internal and regulatory approvals. 

Certain other non-substantive typographical and similar corrections will also be made 

in the Policy.

II. Clearing Membership Procedures 

ICE Clear Europe is proposing to amend its Clearing Membership Procedures to make 

certain clarifications and updates, including for consistency with the amendments to the 

Policy described above. Under the discussion of the application process, the 

amendments will specifically require notifications by Clearing Members of changes to 

their business that may impact the membership criteria, consistent with the change to 

the Policy described above. Additionally, under the diligence process, the amendments 

will clarify that the applicant is required to provide sufficient evidence, details and 

information as required by the Rules. The proposed amendment will also state that the 

membership team will ensure that all applicants will be added to the applicable schedule 

of insured entities by the ICE Group insurer. 

The amendments will remove a provision that the Product Risk Committee would be 

notified of new applications, after approval of an application by the Executive Risk 

Committee. ICE Clear Europe does not believe notification of applications to the 
3

ICE Clear Europe Limited

Registered in England No.06219884

Registered office: Milton Gate, 60 Chiswell Street, London EC1Y 4SA

Product Risk Committee is necessary in light of the duties and functions of those 

committees. In addition, the amendments will make non-substantive clarifications 

concerning the requirement for Clearing Members to respond in a timely manner to any 

additional information requested by the Clearing House.

The proposed changes will also clarify and make consistent throughout the Procedures 

certain provisions relating to decisions that may be taken or requirements that may be 

imposed by the Clearing House in its discretion. Specifically, the amendments will

clarify ICE Clear Europe’s absolute legal discretion in making certain determinations, 

imposing additional requirements and granting exceptions relating to the minimum 

capital requirement, acceptability of subordinated loans, acceptability of controller 

guarantee, requirements for additional cash or collateral and the size of additional 

guaranty fund assessments. The amendments will similarly clarify that the Clearing 

House defines the maximum period between in-depth counterparty reviews and the 

threshold for taking further action on negative changes in Clearing Member financial 

condition in its absolute discretion. ICE Clear Europe does not believe these 

amendments change its existing authority, but rather state more explicitly the scope of 

its discretion, which remains subject to the Rules and applicable law. 

The discussion of document governance and oversight in the Policy and Procedures will

be replaced with a new Document Governance and Exception Handling section that is 

substantially the same as that described above for the Policy, and is consistent with 

other Clearing House policies.

Compliance with the Act and CFTC Regulations

The amendments to the Clearing Membership Policy and Procedures are potentially 

relevant to the following core principles: (C) Participant and Product Eligibility and (O) 

Governance, and the applicable regulations of the Commission thereunder.

• Participant and Product Eligibility. As set forth above, the amendments to the 

Clearing Membership Procedures are intended to clarify and enhance the 

Clearing House’s procedures and policies as they relate to the Clearing 

Membership application and monitoring processes. The amendments do not 

substantively change the requirements for membership or the related Rules, 

but rather update the Policy and Procedures to reflect the Clearing House’s 

current practices, and make other updates to improve clarity, including to state 

more clearly the Clearing House’s discretion to make certain determinations as 

part of the application process. The amendments will facilitate the Clearing 

House's ability to implement and monitor its continuing participation 

requirements. As a result, ICE Clear Europe believes the amendments are 

consistent with the requirements of Core Principle C and Commission Rule 

39.12.

• Governance. As discussed above, the amendments update the documentation 

governance, review and approval provisions for both the Clearing Membership 

Policy and Procedures, in a manner consistent with other ICE Clear Europe 

policies and procedures. The amendments more clearly set out the roles of 
4

ICE Clear Europe Limited

Registered in England No.06219884

Registered office: Milton Gate, 60 Chiswell Street, London EC1Y 4SA

relevant personnel and committees and in the governance process, among 

other enhancements. In ICE Clear Europe’s view, the amendments are 

therefore consistent with the requirements of Core Principle O and 

Commission Rule 39.24.

As set forth herein, the amendments consist of the amendments to the Clearing 

Membership Policy and Procedures. ICE Clear Europe has requested confidential 

treatment with respect to the amendments, which have been submitted concurrently 

with this self-certification submission.

ICE Clear Europe hereby certifies that the amendments comply with the Act and the 

Commission’s regulations thereunder. 

ICE Clear Europe received no substantive opposing views in relation to the 

amendments.

ICE Clear Europe has posted a notice of pending certification and a copy of this 

submission on its website concurrent with the filing of this submission. 

If you or your staff should have any questions or comments or require further 

information regarding this submission, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned 

at George.milton@ice.com or +44 20 7429 4564. 

Very truly yours,

George Milton

Head of Regulation & Compliance