Options Clearing Corp. rejigs who pays what in risk pool.
Published Date: 10/6/2026
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, matching the size of the risk they bring. These changes affect all OCC clearing members and aim to keep the system safer and fairer, with the new rules approved and set to roll out soon.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.
Which members pay more or less — distributional results
OCC's analysis and commenters show the re-weighting shifts contributions across members: the top 10 Clearing Members would have averaged a 1.28% increase in contributions, while the top five within that group would have averaged a 2.67% decrease and members outside the top 10 would have averaged a 1.28% decrease. OCC also reported that, for June 2026 under the proposal, nine of the top 15 would have seen increases ranging from +8.69% to +104.78%, while six would have seen decreases ranging from -4.79% to -39.97%. Petitioner Fidelity estimated its own contribution would rise ~67%, and Schwab projected ~40% higher contributions under the new formula.
Clearing Fund weighting shifts to stress shortfalls
If you are an OCC Clearing Member, OCC changed how it splits who pays for the Clearing Fund. The new allocation uses 70% weight on stressed losses in excess of margin (called "shortfall"), 15% on margin, and 15% on cleared volume, and it extends the lookback period for inputs from 1 month to 3 months. This replaces the prior weighting that relied heavily on margin and open interest and applies over-and-above the $500,000 per-member base contribution.
OCC can hold allocation weights constant in volatile markets
OCC can choose to keep allocation weights unchanged month-to-month during periods of market volatility. That decision is made using daily stress-test outputs, may be escalated to the Stress Testing Working Group or Chief Financial Risk Officer, and OCC must notify Clearing Members, the Risk Committee, the SEC, and the CFTC of any hold-constant decision or reversion.
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