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S&P: OCC Credit Rating Unchanged Post Framework Announcement
Traders Magazine Online News, August 31, 2018
OCC, the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization, commented on the August 21 bulletin by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) saying that OCC’s AA+/Stable credit rating remains unaffected by the approval of the company’s new financial safeguards framework by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
In a bulletin posted to its website, S&P said OCC’s decision to “size its clearing fund to formally provide enough resources to cover the simultaneous default of its two largest clearing members (“cover 2”) versus a default of its single largest clearing member (“cover 1”) in the current framework… will put OCC at par with most U.S. and European peers and will be consistent with our expectation, already factored in the ratings.” S&P also said, “… we regard it important that a CCP has sufficient resources to withstand the liquidity strain that could arise if two leading clearing members default.”
Craig Donohue, OCC Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “S&P’s announcement is a strong recognition of OCC’s efforts to strengthen its financial safeguards framework and to promote stability and market integrity through effective and efficient clearance, settlement and risk management services.”
John Davidson, OCC President and Chief Operating Officer, added, “This announcement reflects favorably on the outstanding work being performed every day by our team on behalf of our participating exchanges, clearing firms and market participants. We will continue to focus our energies on strengthening the resiliency, risk management and capitalization of OCC in order to ensure confidence in the financial markets and the broader economy.”
Of the 9,328 global entities and sovereigns rated by S&P, only one percent have an AA+/Stable rating like OCC.
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