OCC and the U.S. Options Exchanges Announce New Risk Control Standards to Strengthen Industry Protections

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OCC

Sep 29, 2014, 14:35 ET

Chicago, Ill (PRWEB) September 29, 2014 -- OCC and the U.S. options exchanges announced today the adoption of risk control standards that include price reasonability checks, drill-through protections, activity-based protections and kill-switch protections, pending regulatory approval.

Earlier this year, OCC and the options exchanges agreed on a principles-based set of exchange risk control standards designed to reduce the risk of errors or unintended activity that could cause or contribute to a financial loss to market participants and OCC. OCC has adopted the risk control standards and approved an implementation plan. The standards will be implemented through an OCC rule that will apply a principles-based approach to options transactions.

The four core principles adopted by the exchanges are 1) price reasonability checks designed to prevent the display and execution of quotes and orders at extreme prices; 2) drill-through protections that restrict the prices at which orders may be executed and prevent marketable orders from improperly trading through many price increments in a short period of time; 3) activity-based protections designed to address risk beyond price such as a high frequency of trades in a set period of time; and 4) kill switches to enable the termination of access to an options exchange’s trading system under certain defined circumstances.

Subject to regulatory approval, beginning on June 30, 2016, OCC will impose an additional $.02 charge per contract side on clearing members for transactions that have been executed at exchanges that have not demonstrated compliance with exchange risk control standards.

“Working with all of the U.S. options exchanges, we have adopted principles-based exchange risk control standards that are critical to protecting market participants and OCC against financial loss,” said Craig Donohue, OCC Executive Chairman. “These comprehensive risk control standards, and the incentives that we have designed to encourage their adoption by all U.S. options exchanges, further our collective goal of enhancing industry protections.”

Media Contacts:

OCC
Jim Binder
312.322.9853
jbinder(at)theocc(dot)com

BATS Exchange
Randy Williams
212-378-8522
rwilliams(at)batstrading(dot)com

Chicago Board Options Exchange
Gail Osten
312-786-7123
osten(at)cboe(dot)com

International Securities Exchange
Molly McGregor
212-897-0275
mmcgregor(at)ise(dot)com

Miami International Securities Exchange
Dominique Prunetti
609-897-1465
dprunetti(at)miami-holdings(dot)com

NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.
Rob Madden
646-441-5045
robert.madden(at)nasdaqomx(dot)com

NYSE Group
Eric Ryan
212-656-2411
eryan(at)nyx(dot)com
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Jim Binder, OCC, http://www.theocc.com, +1 (312) 322-9853, [email protected]