SEC有条件批准Cboe Clear U.S.客户保证金按OCC同口径计入券商客户准备金计算

8011-01-P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-106726; File No. 4-930]
Order Under Section 36 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Granting Conditional
Exemptive Relief Regarding the Treatment of Customer Margin Under Item 13 and Note F
of Exhibit A to Rule 15c3-3
October 23, 2026.
I.

Introduction
A.

Overview of the Exemptive Order

On September 18, 2026, Cboe Clear U.S., LLC (“CCUS”), a clearing agency now
temporarily registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) pursuant
to Rule 17Ab2-1(c)1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 19342 (“Exchange Act”) for a period
of 18 months,3 filed an application with the Commission (“Application”)4 to obtain an exemption
pursuant to section 36(a)(1)5 of the Exchange Act, in accordance with the procedures set forth in
Exchange Act Rule 0-12.6 Specifically, CCUS requested exemptive relief on behalf of brokerdealers that are CCUS clearing members (“Clearing Members”) from the limitation in Item 13
and Note F of Exhibit A to Rule 15c3-37 that confines the Item 13 debit to the amount of margin

17 CFR 240.17Ab2-1(c).

15. U.S.C. 78a et seq.

See Exchange Act Rel. No. 34-106723 (October 22, 2026) (“CCUS Temporary Registration Order”)
(granting CCUS’s request for temporary registration with an exemption from certain requirements for a
period of 18 months). Pursuant to the CCUS Temporary Registration Order, CCUS is registered to provide
central counterparty services for cash-settled binary security options, including security options overlying
key performance indicators reported by certain issuers of stock. Id.

Letter from Dale Michaels, Head of Clearing, CCUS, to Vanessa A. Countryman, Secretary, Commission
(Sept. 18, 2026): See also infra note 9.

15 U.S.C. 78mm. Section 36(a)(1) of the Exchange Act gives the Commission the authority to exempt any
person, security or transaction or any class or classes of persons, securities or transactions, conditionally or
unconditionally, from any Exchange Act provision by rule, regulation or order, to the extent that the
exemption is necessary or appropriate in the public interest and consistent with the protection of investors.

17 CFR 240.0-12. Exchange Act Rule 0-12 sets forth the procedures for filing applications for orders for
exemptive relief pursuant to section 36.

17 CFR 240.15c3-3a (“Rule 15c3-3a”).

required and on deposit with the Options Clearing Corporation (“OCC”) for all option contracts
written or purchased in customer accounts. This would afford Clearing Members the same
treatment for margin required and on deposit at CCUS for purposes of the reserve computation
requirements under Item 13 and Note F of Rule 15c3-3a as is currently afforded to margin
required and on deposit with the OCC.8
On September 25, 2026, the Commission published a notice of an application for an
exemption and requested comment regarding the Application and the proposed conditions set
forth therein.9 The Notice was published in the Federal Register on September 29, 2026.10 The
Commission received one comment on the Notice of an Application.11 For the reasons discussed
below, this order grants Clearing Members conditional exemptive relief from the limitation in
Item 13 and Note F of 15c3-3a that confines the Item 13 debit to margin required and on deposit
with the OCC for all option contracts written or purchased in customer accounts.
B.

Overview of Rule 15c3-3 and Rule 15c3-3a

Rule 15c3-3, the broker-dealer customer protection rule, requires, among other things,
broker-dealers that hold customer cash and securities (“carrying broker-dealers”) to compute the
net amount of cash owed to customers under a formula in Rule 15c3-3a (“customer reserve
computation”).12 Generally, carrying broker-dealers must perform this customer reserve
computation and make any required deposit into special reserve bank account daily or weekly.
The rule also requires a carrying broker-dealer to perform a PAB reserve computation for the
proprietary securities and cash it holds for other broker-dealers, known as proprietary accounts of

See Application, at 1.

See Notice of an Application of Cboe Clear U.S., LLC for an Exemption Pursuant to Section 36 of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Regarding the Treatment of Customer Margin Under Item 13 and Note F
of Exhibit A to Rule 15c3-3, Exchange Act Release No. 106493 (Sep. 25, 2026), 91 FR 61528 (Sep. 29,
2026) (“Notice of an Application”). The Application is attached as an appendix to the Notice of an
Application and is available at: https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/other/2026/34-106493.pdf.

Id.

See Letter from Shawn SN, dated October 13, 2026. The public comment file is available at
https://www.sec.gov/rules-regulations/public-comments/4-930.

17 CFR 240.15c3-3.

broker-dealers (“PAB accounts”).13 Item 13 of the customer reserve computation in Rule 15c33a includes as a debit in the computation the amount of margin required and on deposit with
OCC for all option contracts written or purchased in customer accounts. Note F to Item 13 states
that Item 13 must include the amount of margin required and on deposit with the OCC to the
extent such margin is represented by cash, proprietary qualified securities and letters of credit
collateralized by customers’ securities.14 Under that framework, the permitted debit is based on
the margin amount posted by the broker-dealer to OCC that is calculated by OCC across all of
the broker-dealer’s customers with listed options (i.e., on an omnibus basis).
C.

Request for Exemptive Relief from CCUS

In its Application, CCUS requested, pursuant to section 36(a)(1) of the Exchange Act,
and in accordance with the procedures set forth in Rule 0-12, that the Commission issue an order
exempting its Clearing Members from the limitation in Item 13 and Note F of Rule 15c3-3a that
confines the Item 13 debit to the amount of margin required and on deposit with OCC for option
contracts written or purchased in customer accounts. CCUS also requested that the exemptive
relief apply with respect to the PAB reserve computation.15 In effect, CCUS is seeking
comparable treatment for its Clearing Members under the customer reserve computation with
respect to the margin that is required and on deposit at CCUS as has been afforded brokerdealers that are clearing members of OCC.
In support of its request, CCUS stated that when the Commission adopted Item 13, and
Note F thereto, OCC was the only clearing agency registered with the Commission to provide
central counterparty services for securities options. CCUS stated that it does not believe that the
Exchange Act requires or warrants different treatment for margin held on similar terms for

Broker-dealers use the formula in Rule 15c3-3a for the purposes of computing the PAB reserve
requirement, except that references to “accounts,” “customer accounts,” or “customers” will be treated as
references to PAB accounts. See Note 1 to Rule 15c3-3a. For the purposes of this order, references to
“accounts,” “customer,” or “customer accounts” will also include “PAB” or “PAB accounts.”

See Note F to Rule 15c3-3a.

See Application, at 3-4.

security option products at different registered clearing agencies. Further, CCUS stated that
section 17A(a)(2) of the Exchange Act16 directs the Commission, with due regard for the
maintenance of fair competition among clearing agencies, to facilitate a national system for the
prompt and accurate clearance and settlement of securities transactions and to assure equal
regulation under the Exchange Act of registered clearing agencies. Consequently, CCUS stated
that reading Item 13 to exclude margin held at a second registered options clearing agency
because it did not exist when the rule was amended would be inconsistent with this statutory
mandate.17
To further support its position, CCUS stated that Item 1418 and Item 1519 of the customer
reserve computation do not name any particular clearing agency, and do not distinguish between
registered clearing agencies.20 CCUS stated that where the Commission anticipated that more
than one clearing agency could hold margin, it framed the customer reserve computation
treatment of such margin by reference to a registered category rather than name a specific
existing clearing agency.21 Consequently, CCUS stated that permitting broker-dealers to treat
margin held at other registered clearing agencies would treat functionally equivalent margin on
equivalent terms.22

15 U.S.C. 78q-1(a)(2).

See Application at 4.

Item 14 of the customer reserve computation is a debit item for margin that is required and on deposit with
a registered clearing agency under section 17A of the Exchange Act (15 U.S.C 78q-1), or a derivatives
clearing organization (“DCO”) registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”)
under section 5b of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) (7 U.S.C. 7a-1) related to positions written,
purchased or sold in customer accounts with respect to security futures products, and futures contracts (and
options thereon) carried in a securities account pursuant to a self-regulatory organization (“SRO”)
margining rule. See 17 CFR 240.15c3-3a, Item 14.

Item 15 of the customer reserve computation is a debit item for margin required and on deposit with a
clearing agency registered with the Commission under section 17A of the Exchange Act resulting from
specified transactions in U.S. Treasury securities in customer accounts that have been cleared, settled and
novated by the clearing agency. See 17 CFR 240.15c3-3a, Item 15.

See Application at 4-5.

See id.

See id.

Additionally, CCUS stated that its proposed rules contemplate customer protection
standards that satisfy the same regulatory requirements as those under which OCC operates.
Specifically, CCUS stated that it will offer separate customer, firm, and market-maker accounts,
and that its rules require all funds and assets held for securities customers of a Clearing Member
be maintained in a segregated Securities Customer Account. Further, CCUS stated that the
binary options it proposed to clear will be fully margined and that its risk management
framework provides for daily and intraday margin collection, guaranty fund resources, and a
default waterfall.23
In its Application, CCUS stated that a failure to provide equivalent treatment under the
customer reserve computation to margin required and on deposit at CCUS would result in its
Clearing Members facing a customer reserve computation penalty for clearing customer security
options at CCUS. CCUS stated that this result could hinder the development of a cleared
securities environment for trading in binary options that CCUS expects to clear.24
In connection with its request for an exemption, CCUS proposed certain conditions that
would apply in connection with its Clearing Members being able to include margin required and
on deposit with CCUS with respect to customer binary options transactions in the Item 13
debit.25
IV.

Discussion
A. Statement of Relief
Section 36(a)(1) of the Exchange Act authorizes the Commission to conditionally or

unconditionally exempt any person, security, or transaction, or any class or classes of persons,
securities, or transactions, from certain provisions of the Exchange Act or certain rules or

See Application at 2-3. CCUS’s margin requirements for binary options, discussed in Exhibit J to its Form
CA-1 application seeking temporary registration and known as its “margin model,” are contained in its
Margin Model and Stress Scenarios document (Ex. E-1.86 to Form CA-1).

See Application at 5.

See Application at 3-4.

regulations thereunder, by rule, regulation, or order, to the extent that such exemption is
necessary or appropriate in the public interest, and is consistent with the protection of investors.26
As described below, the Commission finds that the conditional exemptive relief granted herein to
permit Clearing Members to include an Item 13 debit for margin required and on deposit with
CCUS in the customer and PAB reserve computations is appropriate in the public interest, and is
consistent with the protection of investors.
In particular, it is appropriate to permit Clearing Members to include an Item 13 debit in
the customer and PAB reserve computations for margin required and on deposit at CCUS for
customer binary options. Without the availability of an Item 13 debit, increases in the amounts
of required customer margin as a result of the clearance of binary options at CCUS would result
in corresponding increases in the need for Clearing Members to use their own cash and securities
to meet CCUS customer margin requirements. This relief also may avoid potential increases in a
Clearing Member’s required deposits in its special reserve bank accounts (because there is no
permitted Item 13 debit for CCUS to offset credits).27 This relief would also help to reduce any
capital constraints and inefficiencies for Clearing Members, which may affect their liquidity and
reduce their willingness to intermediate customer access to cleared binary options at CCUS.
Additionally, it is in the public interest to permit an Item 13 debit to help promote competition in
the development of a cleared securities market for trading binary security options of the type
anticipated to be cleared by CCUS and facilitate access to the central clearing and settlement of
securities options.
Further, the Commission adopted amendments to Rule 15c3-3a to add the Item 13 debit
in 1977, when the OCC was the only clearing agency registered with the Commission that
provided central counterparty services for options contracts.28 The rule’s specific reference to

15 U.S.C. 78mm(a)(1).

See section I.B. (discussing customer reserve computation and special reserve bank account).

See Uniform Net Capital Rule and Customer Protection Rule; Final Rule, Exchange Act Release No.
13565 (May 23, 1977), 42 FR 27221 (May 27, 1977).

OCC therefore identifies the single qualifying clearing agency that existed at that time.
However, circumstances have changed. CCUS has been approved as a second clearing agency
for options.29 Providing this relief will help ensure that the same margin treatment under the
Item 13 debit applies to both CCUS and OCC, and to their broker-dealer members, thereby
facilitating fair competition among Commission-registered options clearing agencies which is in
the public interest. Finally, permitting the Item 13 debit for CCUS will support a broker-dealer’s
customer facilitation activity in securities options clearing, in light of the increased number of
securities clearing agencies.
The conditions in this order, discussed below in section II.B, are designed to permit the
Item 13 debit only in circumstances that provide protections to customers consistent with the
customer protection objectives of Rules 15c3-3 and 15c3-3a and the current approach for margin
required and on deposit at OCC. For example, Rule 15c3-3 requires broker-dealers to take steps
to safeguard customer assets by segregating their securities and cash from the carrying brokerdealer’s proprietary business activities.30 The conditions in this order are designed to ensure that
customer margin is appropriately segregated and that a broker-dealer cannot use customer cash
and securities to finance its proprietary business activities. Further, consistent with the existing
Item 13 debit for margin required and on deposit at OCC, the conditions of this order explicitly
limit the exemption to customer margin required and deposit with CCUS with respect to
customer positions in binary options. These conditions help reduce the likelihood of certain risks
that may undermine the customer protection objectives of Rule 15c3-3, including that brokerdealers may not appropriately safeguard customer cash and securities or may improperly include
debits in their customer reserve computation.

See CCUS Temporary Registration Order, supra note 3.

See section I.B. of this order.

The one comment letter that the Commission received on the Notice of an Application
generally supported the request for an exemption,31 but recommended that the Commission
impose additional conditions in connection with granting the request. Specifically, the
commenter pointed to the conditions contained in Note G to the Item 14 debit related to margin
required and on deposit at a registered clearing agency for security futures products and futures
contracts, as well as Note H to the Item 15 debt related to margin required and on deposit as a
registered clearing agency for transactions in Treasury securities and recommended that the
Commission impose the conditions therein on CCUS in connection with the requested exemption
to the extent that such conditions “fit” binary options.32 The Commission has considered the
comment letter, and is declining to incorporate the suggested conditions. The conditions
proposed by CCUS, and outlined below, are robust and reasonably designed to protect investors.
Accordingly, after careful consideration of the Application and the comment received,
the Commission is issuing, pursuant to section 36(a)(1) of the Exchange Act, conditional
exemptive relief to exempt Clearing Members from the limitation in Item 13 and Note F of Rule
15c3-3a that confines the Item 13 debit to the amount of margin required and on deposit with the
OCC, and as such, Clearing Members may include a debit in Item 13 of their customer and PAB
reserve computations for margin required and on deposit with CCUS for all binary options
contracts written or purchased in customer accounts, subject to the conditions discussed below.
B. Discussion of Conditions
The first condition provides that CCUS must be registered with the Commission as a
clearing agency in accordance with section 17A(b)33 of the Exchange Act and Rule 17ab2-134
thereunder. This condition is designed to ensure that the relief provided in this order remains
consistent with the customer protection objectives of Rule 15c3-3, and specifically those
See letter from Shawn SN, at 2.

Id. at 2-3 and 11-15.

15 U.S.C. 78q-1.

17 CFR 240.17ab2-1.

provided by the limitations in Item 13 and Note F of Exhibit A to Rule 15c3-3, by ensuring that
CCUS operates subject to the same regulatory framework as the OCC, which is a registered
clearing agency.35
The second condition requires that the relief provided by this order will apply solely to
margin required and on deposit with CCUS with respect to customer positions in binary options.
This condition is designed to ensure that the relief provided is limited to only margin applicable
to options transactions in customer accounts, the same type of transactions covered under Item
13 of Rule 15c3-3a. This condition also will ensure that margin required and on deposit at
CCUS as a result of a Clearing Member’s proprietary positions may not be included as a debit in
the reserve computations. Therefore, this condition is designed to effectuate a fundamental
aspect of Rule 15c3-3 that a broker-dealer cannot use customer cash or securities to finance its
proprietary business activities.
The third condition provides that the binary options that CCUS clears will be margined
by CCUS consistent with the requirements of Rule 17Ad-22(e) and Clearing Members will
collect such margin from their customers, with any proposed changes to CCUS’s margin system
subject to Commission review, and, as appropriate, approval pursuant to section 19(b) of the
Exchange Act and Rule 19b-4 thereunder. CCUS has stated that the binary options will be fully
margined at the clearing agency level.36 This condition ensures that the Clearing Members hold
sufficient customer collateral to cover the required margin amounts at CCUS, and that proposed
changes to CCUS’s margin system would need to be filed with the Commission through a rule
filing under section 19(b) of the Exchange Act. The purpose of this condition is to help ensure
that the exemption provided under this order is only available when regulatory requirements are
appropriately followed.

A list of registered clearing agencies is available at: https://www.sec.gov/rules-regulations/self-regulatoryorganization-rulemaking.

Broker-dealers are also subject to margin requirements in rules promulgated by the Federal Reserve (12
CFR 220.1, et seq.) and SROs (see, e.g., FINRA Rule 4210 and Cboe Rule 10.3).

The fourth condition requires that, for the purposes of Rule 15c3-3a, CCUS will maintain
margin required and on deposit with CCUS for binary options contracts written or purchased in
customer accounts separately and independently from margin required and on deposit for
proprietary positions of Clearing Members. This condition will increase customer protection by
ensuring that customer margin is clearly identifiable and segregated from margin related to the
Clearing Member’s proprietary positions.37 In doing so, this condition, similar to the second
condition, is designed to further effectuate the fundamental aspect of Rule 15c3-3 that prohibits a
broker-dealer from using customer cash or securities to finance its proprietary business activities.
The fifth condition limits the scope of relief provided by this order to the same conditions
set forth in Note F to Item 13 of Rule 15c3-3a that apply to margin required and on deposit with
OCC for all option contracts written or purchased in customer accounts. Specifically, Note F to
Item 13 states that Item 13 must include the amount of margin required and on deposit with the
OCC to the extent such margin is represented by cash, proprietary qualified securities and letters
of credit collateralized by customers’ securities. This condition is thus designed to protect
investors by ensuring that Clearing Members can only include the Item 13 debit where they
deposit with CCUS the full amount of margin required for all binary options contracts written or
purchased in customer accounts. Further, this condition will ensure the permitted debit under
Item 13 will remain limited to the same scope of assets that are permissible to use as collateral
delivered to the OCC under Note F to Rule 15c3-3a, to remain consistent with established
customer protections under the rule.
The sixth condition states that the rules of CCUS must have been amended, as necessary
to reflect the conditions of this order. This condition is designed to require that Clearing
Members may only include an Item 13 debit in their reserve computations pursuant to this order

See, e.g., OCC By-Laws, Article 1(Definitions) (defining the term “customers’ account” in respect of a
Clearing Member to mean “an account of the Clearing Member on the records of the Corporation which is
confined to confirmed trades cleared and positions carried by the Clearing Member on behalf of its
securities customers…”).

where the rules of CCUS have been amended to conform to the conditions of this exemptive
order. This will also ensure that the rules of CCUS that are amended in accordance with the
conditions of this order adequately implement the customer protection objectives of Rule 15c3-3
and Rule 15c3-3a.
For the reasons discussed above, the Commission finds that granting Clearing Members
conditional exemptive relief from the limitation in Item 13 and Note F to Rule 15c3-3a that
confines the Item 13 debit to the amount of margin required and on deposit with the OCC for all
option contracts written or purchased in customer accounts is appropriate in the public interest,
and consistent with the protection of investors.
III.

Conclusion
Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED pursuant to section 36(a)(1) of the Exchange

Act, Clearing Members are exempt from the limitation in Item 13 and Note F of Rule 15c3-3a
that confines the Item 13 debit to the amount of margin required and on deposit with the OCC for
all option contracts written or purchased in customer accounts, and as such, Clearing Members
may include a debit in Item 13 of their customer and PAB reserve computations for margin
required and on deposit with CCUS for all binary options contracts written or purchased in
customer accounts, subject to the following conditions:
1. Registration: CCUS is registered with the Commission as a clearing agency in
accordance with section 17A(b)38 of the Exchange Act and Rule 17ab2-139
thereunder.
2. Eligibility Limitation: The relief will apply solely to margin required and on deposit
with CCUS with respect to customer positions in binary options.

15 U.S.C. 78q-1.

17 CFR 240.17ab2-1.

3. Margined Customer Positions: The binary options that CCUS clears will be margined
by CCUS consistent with the requirements of Rule 17Ad-22(e)40 and Clearing
Members will collect such margin from their customers, with any proposed changes
to CCUS’s margin system subject to Commission review, and, as appropriate,
approval pursuant to section 19(b)41 of the Exchange Act and Rule 19b-442
thereunder.
4. Segregation of Customer Margin: For purposes of Rule 15c3-3a, CCUS will
maintain margin required and on deposit with CCUS for binary options contracts
written or purchased in customer accounts separately and independently from margin
required and on deposit for proprietary positions of Clearing Members.
5. The relief would be subject to the same conditions set forth in Note F to Item 13 of
Rule 15c3-3a that apply to margin required and on deposit with OCC for all option
contracts written or purchased in customer accounts.
6. The rules of CCUS must have been amended to reflect the conditions of this order.
By the Commission.

J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2026-21931 Filed: 10/27/2026 8:45 am; Publication Date: 10/28/2026]

17 CFR 240.17ad-22(e).

15 U.S.C. 78s.

17 CFR 240.19b-4.