A Collective Investment Fund (CIF) is a trust created and administered by a bank or trust company that commingles assets from multiple clients.
The federal securities laws generally require entities that pool securities to register those pooled vehicles (such as mutual funds) with the SEC. However, Congress created exemptions from these registration requirements for CIFs so long as the entity offering these funds is a bank or other authorized entity and so long as participation in the fund is restricted to only those customers covered by the exemption. If these limitations are met, CIFs are exempt from SEC registration and reporting requirements.