The Boston Stock Exchange (BSE) says its trading facility (BOX) has become an Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) participant exchange. This follows the recent approval of BOX’s trading rules by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). BOX started operations on 6 February.
OCC, which operates under the jurisdiction of the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, clears and guarantees the trades executed on all US options exchanges. As a result of BOX’s affiliation with OCC, the standardized options contracts traded on BOX will be able to be offset against the same options contracts traded on other US options markets, resulting in significant efficiencies for participating member firms.
“BOX will benefit from OCC’s highly refined process for the efficient clearing of trades and OCC will be able to help support BOX’s clearing needs as the BOX market continues to grow,” says Ken Leibler, BSE Chairman and CEO and one of the founding partners of BOX.
Wayne P. Luthringshausen, OCC Chairman and CEO, added: “During this era of exceptional and unlimited growth potential in the U.S. options marketplace, OCC is pleased to welcome BOX. As a participant exchange, BOX will be afforded the full suite of clearing services we make available to our other exchanges.”
The Boston Options Exchange Group LLC (BOX) was established in February 2002 by the Boston Stock Exchange. (BSE), Montral Exchange, and Interactive Brokers Group LLC. It is an all-electronic equity derivatives market. OCC, founded in 1973, is an AAA-rated options clearing organization. In 2003, OCC’s average daily options volume was 3.6 million contracts and average daily premium settlements were $1.1 billion. OCC’s participant exchanges include the American Stock Exchange, the Boston Options Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, International Securities Exchange, One Chicago, NQLX, the Pacific Exchange and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.