SEC Enhances Standards for Critical Market Infrastructure

The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted amendments to its rules for securities clearing agencies to apply enhanced standards to all SEC-registered central counterparties and central securities depositories. The rule amendments build on rules adopted by the Commission in 2016 pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act to establish enhanced standards for the operation and governance of securities clearing agencies deemed systemically important and those that are central counterparties for security-based swaps. “These amendments both enhance and clarify the definition of a covered clearing agency, which is an important step in the regulation of the U.S. financial system’s critical market infrastructure,” said Brett Redfearn, Director of the Division of Trading and Markets.