The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published a statement by Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda on progress implementing the Treasury Clearing rule, which requires clearing of certain eligible secondary market transactions in U.S. Treasury securities by direct participants in covered clearing agencies. The update highlights recent clearing-agency approvals and proposals intended to reduce frictions in Treasury repo clearing and expand clearing capacity, while flagging open interpretive and operational questions still under staff review. Recent actions include approval on December 12, 2025 of Fixed Income Clearing Corporation’s new “Collateral-in-Lieu” service within its Sponsored General Collateral Service, allowing FICC to take a lien on repo collateral in place of charging margin and, in most cases, avoiding margin collection or transaction guarantees to address “double margining” costs for sponsoring members serving registered investment companies and other cash providers. The SEC also published notice on December 22, 2025 of FICC’s proposed rule change to amend its cross-margining agreement with Chicago Mercantile Exchange to extend cross-margining from proprietary positions to customer positions, and is considering related petitions from FICC and CME for exemptive relief under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Separately, the SEC approved CME Securities Clearing Inc.’s registration as a clearing agency for U.S. Treasury securities on December 1, 2025, and issued an order on December 22, 2025 approving expansion of FICC’s Agent Clearing Service to include triparty transactions. On implementation support, the SEC has already extended compliance deadlines by one year to December 31, 2026 for cash transactions and June 30, 2027 for repo transactions, and staff has issued guidance on customer protection rules and the treatment of eligible secondary market transactions for triparty repo arrangements, alongside staff feedback on accounting requirements for agent clearing members. Staff work underway includes potential expansion of the interaffiliate exemption (including scope of “affiliate”), clarification of the rule’s extraterritorial application, guidance on failed trades or clearing agency outages, and assessment of gross versus net margin alternatives for segregated customer accounts under Exchange Act Rule 15c3-3a.
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission 2025-12-23
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission updates on Treasury clearing implementation with new FICC collateral-in-lieu service and proposed customer cross-margining expansion
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) updated on the Treasury Clearing rule, highlighting approvals and proposals to enhance clearing capacity and reduce frictions in Treasury repo clearing. Key developments include approving the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation's "Collateral-in-Lieu" service and expanding cross-margining agreements. The SEC extended compliance deadlines and issued guidance on operational aspects, with ongoing staff work addressing interpretive and operational questions.