SEC grants broker-dealers conditional exemption for Treasury reserve calculations

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued an order on November 4, 2026 that grants broker-dealers conditional exemptive relief from certain provisions of Note H to Item 15 of Exhibit A to Rule 15c3-3. The relief, issued under Section 36 of the Exchange Act, permits the inclusion of a debit in Rule 15c3-3a reserve computations for margin required and on deposit with a qualified clearing agency arising from centrally cleared U.S. Treasury transactions.

The exemption removes the application of Section 15(c)(3) of the Exchange Act and Rule 15c3-3a, Note H(b)(1) and (b)(2)(i). Broker-dealers may now count the margin required and on deposit with a qualified clearing agency - registered under Section 17A and clearing, settling, and novating Treasury trades - as a debit when calculating the customer-and-PAB reserve requirements.

To qualify, the clearing agency must calculate each customer's margin on a gross, customer-by-customer basis, and the broker-dealer must deliver the corresponding margin collateral on a gross basis. The collateral must be cash owed to the customer or U.S. Treasury securities (or qualified customer securities) held in custody for that customer. The order also allows temporary prefunding of a specific customer's margin requirement, subject to the strict limitations set out in Note H(b)(1)(iii).

The exemption applies only where the Commission has approved the clearing agency's rules and issued a notice that broker-dealers may include the debit. The Commission has published such notices for three qualified clearing agencies, most recently in the November 29, 2024 notice (Release No. 34-101729). No subsequent withdrawals have been recorded.

The order is identified as Release No. 34-106821, File No. S7-2026-26, and appears in the Federal Register, Volume 91, Number 215, pages 70924-70928.