On September 30, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a press release, providing updates to market participants on the progress of implementing the rules on central clearing of certain secondary market transactions in U.S. Treasury securities (the “Rules”). As we previously discussed, in February 2025, the SEC extended the compliance dates and provided a temporary exemption relating to the Rules. SEC Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda also issued an update statement that highlighted various measures that the SEC has taken to facilitate implementation of the Rules.
The SEC launched a new webpage that provides market participants with easier access to the latest updates, SEC staff statements and other materials related to the Rules.
Issues Addressed
On September 30, 2025, the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets issued a new answer to a Frequently Asked Question (“FAQ”) regarding the applicability of the Rules to “mixed-CUSIP” triparty repurchase transactions. A mixed-CUSIP triparty repo arises when, as part of a general collateral repo, U.S. Treasury securities are included in the collateral eligibility schedule and are allocated as collateral as part of the settlement process. Under the circumstances described in the new FAQ, Commission staff expressed the view that such a transaction would not be an “eligible secondary market transaction” as used in Rule 17ad-22(a). As previously reported, market participants (including various trade associations) had raised the treatment of mixed-CUSIP triparty repos as a “critical issue” for SEC clarification.
Commissioner Uyeda also highlighted existing guidance issued relating to (i) the accounting treatment for repo transactions cleared through the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation; and (ii) the financial responsibility requirements under Exchange Act Rule 15c3-3a, as applied to cleared U.S. Treasury securities.
Remaining Implementation Issues
Commissioner Uyeda identified that the SEC staff is currently considering a number of remaining implementation issues and requests for guidance, including:
- Inter-affiliate exemption. Expanding the inter-affiliate exemption under the Rules to include cash transactions and to allow for internal liquidity and collateral management; and broadening the concept of “affiliate” and including additional types of affiliates within the inter-affiliate exemption;
- Double margining. Addressing issues of “double margining” issues for registered funds regarding cleared repos;
- Cross-margining. Facilitating cross-margining between securities and futures transactions at the customer level;
- Gross vs. net margin. Assessing gross versus net margin alternatives for segregated customer accounts under Exchange Act Rule 15c3-3a;
- Failed trades and clearing agency outages. Providing guidance on the impact of failed trades or clearing agency outages on the Rules; and
- Extra-territorial application. Clarifying the extraterritorial scope of the Rules.
As reported by Commissioner Uyeda, the SEC is also currently considering two applications (CME Securities Clearing Inc. and ICE Clear Credit LLC) for registration as a clearing agency for U.S. Treasuries. See the SEC’s press release, Commissioner Uyeda’s statement, and the new clearing rule implementation webpage.