SEC Approves Exemptive Order and Proposed Rule Change to Permit Customer Cross-Margining in the U.S. Treasury Market

The Securities and Exchange Commission today issued a conditional exemptive order that permits customer cross-margining of cash market positions in U.S. Treasury securities cleared by a registered clearing agency and futures positions in U.S. Treasury securities cleared by a registered derivatives clearing organization. The order provides for an exemption from the broker-dealer customer protection rule for a broker-dealer that is dually-registered as a futures commission merchant with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and is a joint clearing member of the clearing agency and derivatives clearing organization, to permit the broker-dealer to make cross-margining available to certain customers in a futures account provided the conditions of the order are met.