OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, today expressed support for the decision of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to lift the stay of the approval order of OCC's proposed capital plan, allowing OCC to proceed with implementation of the capital plan. Under its order to discontinue the stay, the SEC determined that "strengthening the capitalization of a systemically important clearing agency, such as OCC, is a compelling public interest." Under SEC rules, the stay was instituted automatically by the filings of petitions requesting review by the full Commission of the approval order.
"We are pleased that the SEC agreed with OCC that the concerns raised by petitioners do not justify maintaining the stay during the pendency of the Commission's review. The SEC's action permits us to further strengthen our equity capital resources so that a compelling public interest can be served," said Craig Donohue, OCC Executive Chairman. "We hope that the Commission's review will be done in an expeditious fashion."
Donohue added, "The benefits of the OCC capital plan are exceedingly valuable to market participants. The plan will strengthen our capital base from a business perspective, enable our firm to meet the heightened capital requirements that are critical for SIFMUs like OCC, and better position us to meet international requirements so that market participants are not subject to the costs of punitive capital requirements imposed by international regulators."
Here are the links to the SEC approval orders lifting the automatic stay of OCC's capital plan (http://www.sec.gov/rules/other/2015/34-75886.pdf) and granting review of the capital plan (http://www.sec.gov/rules/other/2015/34-75885.pdf).