SEC grants Cboe Clear U.S. temporary clearing agency registration for eighteen months

The Securities and Exchange Commission granted Cboe Clear U.S., LLC temporary registration as a clearing agency for a period of 18 months, together with exemptions from certain requirements of Sections 17A(b)(3)(B) and (F) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The order is dated October 22, 2026, was signed by Assistant Secretary Sherry R. Haywood, and is published in the Federal Register of October 27, 2026 under Release No. 34–106723, File No. 600–47.

An application filed in June and amended five times

Cboe Clear U.S. — referred to in the order as CCUS — filed its application on Form CA–1 on June 30, 2026, seeking to register as a clearing agency in order to provide central counterparty (CCP) services for cash-settled binary security options. The Commission published notice of the application for comment on July 24, 2026 (90 FR 46817, Release No. 34–105960 of July 21, 2026), and CCUS amended its filing on July 7 and 17, August 18, September 4 and October 1, 2026; the October 1 amendments were themselves noticed on October 9, 2026 (91 FR 64709, Release No. 34–106610).

The order recalls that the Commission has used this route sparingly before:

• Paxos Securities Settlement Company, LLC, granted temporary registration on May 27, 2026 for a period not exceeding 18 months (91 FR 32151).
• The Government Securities Clearing Corporation, granted temporary registration in 1988 for 36 months (53 FR 19839).
• Rule 17Ab2–1(c), which caps any such registration at 18 months from the date it is made effective, unless the Commission orders a longer period.

What the registration authorises

CCUS will clear “cash settled, binary security options,” including Binary KPI Options — security options overlying key performance indicators reported by certain issuers of stock. The order states these contracts “will be fully margined,” so that all potential price movements are covered by posted margin, and that they will trade on Cboe Exchange, Inc., a national securities exchange and a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of Cboe Global Markets, Inc.

The rules require clearing members seeking to clear these securities contracts to be registered broker-dealers with the Commission, and classify accounts by beneficiary:

• retail and institutional investors of a clearing member (Securities Customer Accounts);
• the proprietary account of a broker-dealer client of a clearing member (PAB Accounts);
• a clearing member’s own account (Member Property Accounts);
• market makers (Market-Maker Accounts).

CCUS is already a derivatives clearing organisation registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and has elected “Subpart C” status; the order notes that its risk framework must manage the default of its two clearing member groups with the largest aggregate credit exposure, and of the group posing the largest liquidity exposure, under extreme but plausible market conditions.

Exemptions, conditions and a nine-month clock

The relief covers Section 17A(b)(3)(B), which concerns participation requirements, and Section 17A(b)(3)(F), which requires rules designed to assure safeguarding of securities and funds. CCUS itself acknowledged in its application that its rules “do not at this time reference all of the categories of participants enumerated in Section 17A(b)(3)(B)”; the Commission found its rules adequate for BD Clearing Members and Direct Clearing Members and granted time to develop provisions for the remaining categories.

The agency also stressed what the registration does not remove. While under temporary registration, CCUS must keep satisfying Rule 17Ab2–1 and Form CA–1, including amendments, and as a registered clearing agency and self-regulatory organisation it must file rule changes under Section 19(b) and Rule 19b–4, meet recordkeeping requirements and submit to Commission supervision and examinations. Under Rule 17Ab2–1(c), the Commission must grant full registration or institute proceedings within nine months of the temporary registration taking effect.

A divided public comment record

The Commission received one comment letter, from Joanna Mallers, Secretary of PTG, dated September 8, 2026, and a response from Dale Michaels, President of Cboe Clear U.S., LLC, dated September 25, 2026. The comment supported temporary registration as a “stopgap” but, as to permanent registration, raised concerns about the risk of vertically integrated solutions and asked the Commission to weigh the capital costs and risks of a more fragmented clearing structure.

For market participants, the order opens a regulated CCP channel for binary options that have so far lacked one: broker-dealers admitted as clearing members can clear fully margined contracts on Cboe Exchange, while the Commission retains a nine-month deadline to decide on permanent registration — a decision that will determine whether the arrangement becomes a lasting feature of United States options clearing or a way station toward a more fragmented structure.

Source: Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 206, October 27, 2026, Notices, p. 67624 (official reference: Release No. 34–106723; File No. 600–47).