Federal Register 30-Day Submission Notice

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Federal Register / Vol. 91, No. 140 / Thursday, July 23, 2026 / Notices
B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement on Burden on Competition
The Exchange does not believe that
the proposed rule change would impose
any burden on competition that is not
necessary or appropriate in furtherance
of the purposes of the Act. The
proposed rule change is not designed to
address any competitive issues but
rather to provide greater harmonization
among Exchange and FINRA rules of
similar purpose, resulting in less
burdensome and more efficient
regulatory compliance for common
members and facilitating FINRA’s
performance of its regulatory functions
under the 17d–2 Agreement. As such,
the Exchange does not believe that the
proposed rule change will impose any
burden on competition not necessary or
appropriate in furtherance of the
purposes of the Act.
C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement on Comments on the
Proposed Rule Change Received From
Members, Participants, or Others
The Exchange has neither solicited
nor received comments on the proposed
rule change.

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III. Date of Effectiveness of the
Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
Pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the
Act 14 and Rule 19b–4(f)(6) 15
thereunder, the Exchange has
designated this proposal as one that
effects a change that: (i) does not
significantly affect the protection of
investors or the public interest; (ii) does
not impose any significant burden on
competition; and (iii) by its terms, does
not become operative for 30 days after
the date of the filing, or such shorter
time as the Commission may designate
if consistent with the protection of
investors and the public interest.
At any time within 60 days of the
filing of the proposed rule change, the
Commission summarily may
temporarily suspend such rule change if
it appears to the Commission that such
action is necessary or appropriate in the
public interest, for the protection of
investors, or otherwise in furtherance of
the purposes of the Act. If the
Commission takes such action, the
Commission shall institute proceedings
to determine whether the proposed rule
should be approved or disapproved.
IV. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to
submit written data, views and
arguments concerning the foregoing,

including whether the proposed rule
change is consistent with the Act.
Comments may be submitted by any of
the following methods:
Electronic Comments
• Use the Commission’s internet
comment form (https://www.sec.gov/
rules/sro.shtml); or
• Send an email to rule-comments@
sec.gov. Please include file number SR–
BOX–2026–17 on the subject line.
Paper Comments
• Send paper comments in triplicate
to Secretary, Securities and Exchange
Commission, 100 F Street NE,
Washington, DC 20549–1090.
All submissions should refer to file
number SR–BOX–2026–17. This file
number should be included on the
subject line if email is used. To help the
Commission process and review your
comments more efficiently, please use
only one method. The Commission will
post all comments on the Commission’s
internet website (https://www.sec.gov/
rules/sro.shtml). Copies of such filing
will be available for inspection and
copying at the principal office of the
Exchange. Do not include personal
identifiable information in submissions;
you should submit only information
that you wish to make available
publicly. We may redact in part or
withhold entirely from publication
submitted material that is obscene or
subject to copyright protection. All
submissions should refer to file number
SR–BOX–2026–17 and should be
submitted on or before August 13, 2026.
For the Commission, by the Division of
Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
authority.16
Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2026–14856 Filed 7–22–26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[OMB Control No. 3235–0600]

Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request; Extension:
Rule 611
Upon Written Request, Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of FOIA Services,
100 F Street NE, Washington, DC
20549–2736
Notice is hereby given that pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

14 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
15 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6).

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16 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).

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(‘‘PRA’’) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the
Securities and Exchange Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) has submitted to the
Office of Management and Budget
(‘‘OMB’’) a request for approval of
extension of the previously approved
collection of information provided for
Rule 611 (17 CFR 242.611) under the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15
U.S.C. 78a et seq.) (‘‘Exchange Act’’).
On June 9, 2005, effective August 29,
2005 (see 70 FR 37496, June 29, 2005),
the Commission adopted Rule 611 of
Regulation NMS under the Exchange
Act to require any national securities
exchange, national securities
association, alternative trading system,
exchange market maker, over-thecounter market maker, and any other
broker-dealer that executes orders
internally by trading as principal or
crossing orders as agent, to establish,
maintain, and enforce written policies
and procedures reasonably designed to
prevent the execution of a transaction in
its market at a price that is inferior to
a protected bid or offer displayed in
another market at the time of execution
(a ‘‘trade-though’’), absent an applicable
exception and, if relying on an
exception, that are reasonably designed
to assure compliance with the terms of
the exception. Without this collection of
information, respondents would not
have a means to enforce compliance
with the Commission’s intention to
prevent trade-throughs pursuant to the
rule.
There are approximately 305
respondents 1 per year that will require
an aggregate total of approximately
18,300 hours per year to comply with
this Rule. It is anticipated that each
respondent will continue to expend
approximately 60 hours annually: two
hours per month of internal legal time
and three hours per month of internal
compliance time to ensure that its
written policies and procedures are upto-date and remain in compliance with
Rule 611. The estimated cost for an
attorney is $744 per hour and the
estimated cost for a financial examiner
in the securities industry is $365 per
hour. Therefore the estimated total
internal cost of compliance for the
1 The Commission estimates that there are
currently 304 trading centers subject to Rule 611.
This estimate includes 20 exchanges (17 exchanges
that trade NMS stocks + three exchanges that are
approved but not yet operating) and 33 ATSs that
trade NMS stocks. Based on data from the
consolidated audit trail for January 2026, the
estimate also includes 96 exchange market makers
and 225 broker-dealers acting as OTC market maker
or executing orders internally by trading as
principal or crossing orders as agent. 69 brokerdealers are both exchange market makers and an
OTC market maker or broker-dealer internalizing
orders. 20 + 33 + 96 + 225¥69 = 305 trading
centers.

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Federal Register / Vol. 91, No. 140 / Thursday, July 23, 2026 / Notices

annual hour burden is as follows: [(2
legal hours × 12 months × $744) × 305]
+ [(3 compliance hours × 12 months ×
$365) × 305] = $9,453,780.2
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid OMB
control number.
The public may view and comment
on this information collection request
at: https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/
PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202605-3235-001
or email comment to
MBX.OMB.OIRA.SEC_desk_officer@
omb.eop.gov within 30 days of the day
after publication of this notice, by
August 24, 2026.
Dated: July 21, 2026.
Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2026–14930 Filed 7–22–26; 8:45 am]

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BILLING CODE 8011–01–P

2 To calculate the occupational hourly rates used
in this release, the Commission uses occupational
mean hourly wage data from the Occupational
Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program
of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for
‘‘Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other
Financial Investments and Related Activities’’
(NAICS 523). See Occupational Employment and
Wage Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
https://www.bls.gov/oes/; see also Standard
Occupational Classification, U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/soc/ (describing
occupational classification system used by BLS);
Exec. Off. of the President, Off. of Mgmt. & Budget,
North American Industry Classification System
(2022), available at https://www.census.gov/naics/
reference_files_tools/2022_NAICS_Manual.pdf
(describing the industry classification system used
by BLS and other agencies). The mean hourly wage
for each occupation is adjusted for changes in the
seasonally adjusted employment cost index for
private wages and salaries between the data
reference period and when the data are released by
BLS. See Employment Cost Index, U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/eci/. The
adjusted mean hourly wage is then multiplied by
a factor that accounts for nonwage costs borne by
employers, such as bonuses, benefits, and overhead.
This factor is calculated as an average over the 10
most recently available years of data of the ratio of
the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s annual gross
output data for NAICS 523 to total annual wages
across all occupations for NAICS 523 in the OEWS
data. See Gross Output by Industry, U.S. Bureau of
Economic Analysis, https://www.bea.gov/data/
industries/gross-output-by-industry; Occupational
Employment and Wage Statistics, U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/oes/. The final
product is the occupational hourly rate. See
generally Updated Methodology for Calculating
Occupational Hourly Rates (Dec. 19, 2025),
available at https://www.sec.gov/files/methodoccupational-hourly-rates.pdf.

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Release No. 34–105954; File No. SR–
CMESC–2026–004]

Self-Regulatory Organizations; CME
Securities Clearing Inc.; Order
Approving Proposed Rule Change To
Support Members’ Risk Management
of and Enhance Their Ability To
Authorize Persons as Users
July 20, 2026.

I. Introduction
On May 21, 2026, CME Securities
Clearing Inc. (‘‘CMESC’’) filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) proposed rule change
SR–CMESC–2026–004, pursuant to
Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 (the ‘‘Act’’) 1 and
Rule 19b–4 thereunder.2 The proposed
rule change would modify the Rules of
CMESC (‘‘Rules’’) 3 regarding (1)
Member enforcement of contractual
termination rights against an authorized
User, (2) secondary security interests in
and liens against User funds, and (3)
Member participation in the close-out of
an authorized Defaulting User’s
positions. The proposed rule change
was published for comment in the
Federal Register on June 8, 2026.4 The
Commission has received no comments
on the changes proposed. For the
reasons discussed below, the
Commission is approving the proposed
rule change.
II. Background
On December 1, 2025, the
Commission approved CMESC’s
application for registration as a clearing
agency to provide central counterparty
services for U.S. Treasury Securities.5
CMESC states that based on engagement
with market participants and trade
associations during the application
review, CMESC identified changes that
could be made to its Rules designed to
enhance Members’ risk management
flexibility and mitigate potential
constraints on their ability to authorize
Users due to potential capital
constraints.6 CMESC states that the
proposed rule change is designed to
further support prompt close-out of a
1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
2 17 CFR 240.19b–4.
3 Terms not defined herein are defined in the
Rules, as applicable, available at https://
www.cmegroup.com/rulebook/CMESC/
CMESC%20Rulebook.pdf.
4 Securities Exchange Act Release No. 34–105605
(Jun. 3, 2026), 91 FR 34666 (Jun. 8, 2026) (File No.
SR–CMESC–2026–004) (‘‘Notice of Filing’’).
5 Securities Exchange Act Release No. 104281
(Dec. 1, 2025), 90 FR 55926 (Dec. 4, 2025).
6 See Notice of Filing, supra note 4, at 34667.

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User’s positions, regardless of the User’s
Default status.7
Currently, a person may become a
Participant to utilize CMESC’s Clearing
Services as a Member or a User.8
Members may clear proprietary Eligible
Securities Transactions through
CMESC 9 and may authorize Users to
clear their own proprietary Eligible
Securities Transactions through
CMESC.10 A person may become a User
only with the authorization of a
Member, but the User is contractually
bound to settle its Eligible Securities
Transactions directly with CMESC.11
Users may participate in CMESC’s
Clearing Services as Independent Users
or Supported Users.12
A Member has certain obligations
under the Rules with respect to persons
admitted as Users pursuant to the
Member’s authorization. For example,
an authorizing Member must establish,
maintain, and enforce User Due
Diligence Policies and Procedures.13 In
the event of a User Default, if any losses
remain after CMESC applies the margin
posted to the Account of the Defaulting
User, the authorizing Member will be
required to provide funds to discharge
the remaining losses.14
A Member must enter into an
Authorization Agreement with each
User it authorizes pursuant to which the
Member agrees to authorize the User.15
An authorizing Member or User must
provide CMESC with ten Business Days’
advance notice of its termination of the
Authorization Agreement for any
reason, subject to CMESC’s discretion to
provide a shorter notification period.16
CMESC states that for a Member that
is a bank (or a firm affiliated with a
bank), it would be beneficial if the Rules
would provide an explicit means for
such Member to enforce any contractual
rights it may have under its
agreement(s) governing such Member’s
relationship with an authorized User to
7 Id.
8 See e.g., Rule 301, supra note 3.
9 Id.
10 See e.g., Rules 302(a) and 305(c), supra note 3.
11 See e.g., Rules 305(d) and 1504(b), supra note

3.
12 See e.g., Rule 301(b), supra note 3. An
Independent User is obligated to post margin and
make Outstanding Exposure Settlement payments
to CMESC for its Independent User Account. See
e.g., Rules 501 and 506, supra note 3. In contrast,
for a Supported User, the Member authorizing the
Supported User is obligated to post margin and
make Outstanding Exposure Settlement payments
to CMESC for the Supported User Account
associated with the Member’s authorization. See
e.g., Rules 501, 513, and 506, supra note 3.
13 See Rule 306(c)(iii), supra note 3.
14 See Rule 406(b)(ii)(A) and Rule 406(b)(ii)(B),
supra note 3.
15 See Notice of Filing, supra note 4, at 34667.
16 Id.

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