OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, today said it was honored to be named the 2018 "Clearing House of the Year - The Americas" by FOW Magazine. The announcement took place on December 4 at the FOW International Award gala dinner in London, which honored achievements that have supported the advancement of the global derivatives industry.
"This award is an honor," said Craig Donohue, OCC Executive Chairman and CEO. "As a leading central counterparty, we work hard every day to provide stability and market integrity in the exchange-listed options industry. This recognition by FOW highlights the dedication and commitment of the entire OCC team to delivering effective and efficient clearing, settlement and risk management services to market participants and the greater public interest."
OCC's achievements in 2018 include receiving regulatory approval for a new Financial Safeguards Framework . The FSF includes a new "Cover Two" approach that exceeds U.S. regulatory standards and better aligns with other systemically important derivative clearing houses, and a new risk-based allocation on clearing fund contribution requirements that improves transparency and incentivizes clearing members to reduce margin risk, and which allowed OCC to return over $3 billion in capital efficiencies to clearing firms
OCC also has cleared record contract volumes in the U.S. exchange-listed options industry. In October, OCC cleared a monthly-record volume of more than 567 million contracts. On November 20, 2018, the U.S. exchanged-listed options industry cleared 4.58 billion options contracts year-to-date, surpassing the 2011 annual record of 4.56 billion cleared options contracts. Through November 2018, OCC has cleared 4.71 billion options contracts year-to-date.
About FOW - FOW was launched in 1982 and serves as a respected news and data outlet for the international futures and options industry. You can see the full list of honorees here.