Printed from BusinessInsurance.com

Options Clearing to pay $22M to regulators over rule failures

Posted On: Feb. 17, 2023 12:19 PM CST

settlement

(Reuters) — The Options Clearing Corp. has agreed to pay $22 million in penalties to settle charges from U.S. regulators that it failed to properly implement and maintain policies aimed at managing risks at the Chicago-based clearing agency.

Options Clearing failed to comply with its own stress testing and clearing fund methodology rule during certain times between October 2019 and May 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a statement on Thursday. The firm agreed to pay $17 million to the securities regulator to settle the charges.

It agreed to pay another $5 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over related charges.

OCC said in a statement that it had identified and reported the issue to the agencies in 2021, and already undertaken remediation.

“Most of the work to remediate this issue is complete and any remaining actions are on a path to be completed within the next year,” said CEO John Davidson in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to work constructively with our regulators as our transformation continues.”

In 2019, the Chicago-based firm agreed to pay $20 million to settle previous charges from both agencies that it failed to implement policies to manage certain risks as required by law.