OCC Refines Clearing Fund Risk Sharing Among Members
Published Date: 12/16/2025
Notice
Summary
The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) is changing how it decides how much money each member must put into the Clearing Fund. This new method makes sure that members who create more risk for the OCC pay their fair share, keeping things safer and fairer for everyone. These changes kick in soon and affect all OCC clearing members, with no extra costs but smarter risk sharing.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.
OCC Can Hold Allocations Constant
OCC now has rule authority (proposed Rule 1003(c)) to hold allocation weights constant month-over-month at its sole discretion during volatile market conditions, subject to internal review by the Stress Testing Working Group and notification to Clearing Members, the Risk Committee, the SEC, and the CFTC. Any hold-constant decision must be based on existing facts and be in furtherance of OCC integrity and financial stability.
Clearing Fund Reweighting to Shortfalls
If you are an OCC clearing member, OCC changed how it allocates Clearing Fund deposits by using a new weighting: 70% based on stressed shortfalls (stress loss in excess of margin), 15% based on margin, and 15% based on cleared volume. The rule replaces the old weightings (which included open interest) and introduces the defined shortfall metric into the allocation formula.
Lookback Extended to Three Months
OCC extended the lookback period used to calculate allocation-related measures from one month to three months so allocation inputs align with Clearing Fund sizing parameters. This change is intended to smooth month-to-month allocation changes by using three months of data instead of one month.
Estimated Member Contribution Changes
OCC provided illustrative results showing distributional effects: under the proposed methodology the top 10 Clearing Members would have experienced, on average, a 1.28% increase in contributions; the top five within that top-10 group would have experienced, on average, a 2.67% decrease; and the remaining Clearing Members would have experienced a 1.28% decrease in average contributions. OCC provided these aggregate percentage results in its filing.
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