Summary of Requirements for
CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX Clearing Membership
And OTC Derivatives Clearing Membership
January 2024
CME Clearing (“Clearing House”) is the clearing house division of Chicago Mercantile ExchangeInc. (“CME”) which is wholly owned by CME Group Inc. (“CME Group”). CME Group is theultimate parent of: (1) CME; (2) Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. (“CBOT”); (3) New
York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. (“NYMEX”); and (4) Commodity Exchange, Inc. (“COMEX”)(hereafter referred to as “Exchange(s)”).
A firm may become a clearing member of one or more Exchanges and have privileges to clear
exchange-traded futures and/or options on futures (“futures/options”) on that Exchange.
Depending upon the clearing membership privileges held, these clearing members may be
eligible to clear OTC derivatives products (i.e. cleared swaps and forwards) if additional
requirements, including additional capital and risk management requirements, are met. For
example, CME clearing members are eligible to clear FX OTC products and Interest Rate
Swaps (“IRS”), CBOT clearing members are eligible to clear ethanol and grain swaps, NYMEX
clearing members are eligible to clear energy OTC products and COMEX clearing members are
eligible to clear metal forwards. A CBOT-only, NYMEX-only or COMEX-only clearing member is
not eligible to clear IRS.
A firm may become only an OTC Derivatives Clearing Member if it desires to clear only OTC
derivative products, IRS and FX, and not clear any Exchange-traded futures/options activity. An
OTC Clearing Member is a member in CME Clearing and is afforded full rights and privileges toclear for its own accounts, and on behalf of customers if it is properly registered, transactions in
OTC derivative products. OTC Clearing Members are not entitled to clear products other thanOTC derivative products.
Clearing members that will clear exchange-traded futures/options and/or OTC derivatives forcustomers must be registered with the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission(“CFTC”) as a Futures Commission Merchant (“FCM”). FCMs are subject to CFTC rules andregulations pertaining to regulatory capital, daily, semi-monthly, monthly and annual financial
reporting, required notifications and customer protection. More detailed information concerning
FCM registration can be found on the CFTC’s web site at www.cftc.gov.
The general requirements of clearing membership are stated in Chapter 9 of each Exchange’s
rulebook. The additional requirements for clearing OTC derivative products are stated in Chapter
8F of CME’s Rulebook and for IRS are stated in Chapter 8G of CME’s. Also, the Clearing House
may impose additional requirements upon the clearing member that may be specific to the
products cleared by the clearing member. Below is a summary of the major requirements. For a
more detailed account of clearing membership requirements, please review the Clearing
Membership Handbook.
It can be found on CME Group’s web site at:
http://www.cmegroup.com/company/membership/files/cme-group-clearing-membershiphandbook.pdf
Clearing membership in the Exchanges or for OTC derivatives is a privilege granted by the
Clearing House Oversight Committee and may be withdrawn at any time.

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General Requirements
1. A clearing member must be a corporation (including a C Corporation, Subchapter S
Corporation or Limited Liability Company), partnership (including a Limited Partnership orGeneral Partnership) or cooperative association.
2. A clearing member shall be qualified to do business in the State of Illinois or the State of
New York or have an agency agreement in place with an entity already qualified in theState of Illinois or the State of New York. Such agency agreement must be in an Exchange
approved format. This requirement provides a place for service of process and othercommunications in connection with the business of the clearing member.
3. A clearing member must have an authorized representative (i.e., officer, principal, or
partner), satisfactory to the Clearing House Risk Committee, to represent the clearing
member before the Exchanges and their committees.
4. A clearing member shall be engaged in or demonstrate immediate capacity to engage inthe conduct of the business of a clearing member.
5. A clearing member shall ensure that any and all necessary approvals have been received
from regulatory authorities, including, but not limited to, the United States Federal Reserveand other foreign banking regulators, to allow the firm to conduct the business of a Clearing
Member, if applicable.
6. A clearing member shall demonstrate such fiscal and moral integrity as would justify the
Clearing House’s assumption of the risks inherent in clearing its trades.
7. A clearing member shall agree to abide by all Exchange rules upon which it has
membership privileges and to cooperate in their enforcement.
8. A clearing member shall agree to guarantee and assume complete responsibility for: (a) all
trades executed or directed to be executed by floor brokers and traders qualified by it; and(b) all orders that floor brokers qualified by it negligently execute or fail to execute. In
addition, a clearing member shall agree to guarantee and assume responsibility for all
trading activity routed through any electronic trading system, if applicable, to the Clearing
House for clearing of such transactions and which are guaranteed to the Clearing House by
the clearing member via any connection, terminal, link, telecommunications hub or
handheld unit provided by a clearing member to a third party, as well as any applicable
electronic trading systems and terminals that the clearing member provides to a third party,
including an eligible customer, to enter orders.
9. A clearing member shall comply with all credit control policies developed by the Exchange
for customer and proprietary transactions. Such credit control policies may include, but not
be limited to, registration of credit control administrators with the Exchange, definition of
credit control limits, and maintenance of written procedures verifying compliance with
Exchange credit control requirements. Any credit control functionality required by the
Exchange shall be in addition to a clearing member’s initial risk monitoring and credit
control procedures.

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10. A clearing member must be in “good standing” under each applicable regulatory regime
which it is subject to and must maintain this status while it is a clearing member.
Refer to Exchange Rule 901. (General Requirements and Obligations) for a complete listing.
Clearing Members in Non-U.S. Jurisdictions
Clearing members that are incorporated/domiciled in non-U.S. jurisdictions must be subject to alegal and insolvency regime acceptable to the Clearing House. All clearing members, including
those from non-U.S. jurisdictions, must use the Clearing House’s approved settlement banks for
performance bond deposits and variation margin.
Choice of Law
The rules of the Exchange shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of
the State of Illinois in the United States. Any action, claim, dispute or litigation of any kind
between the clearing member and the Exchanges shall be adjudicated in a federal or state court
in Chicago, Illinois. Clearing members must consent to the jurisdiction of such court and toservice of process by any means authorized by Illinois or U.S. federal law and waive the right totransfer the venue of such litigation. Refer to Rule 905. In addition, the rule provides thatclearing members irrevocably waive any grounds of sovereign immunity in any legal action with
the Exchanges.
Additional General Requirements for OTC
1. The clearing member shall agree to guarantee and assume responsibility for all OTC
derivatives trading activity executed via outside means and submitted for clearing to theClearing House by any customer, broker or affiliate authorized by the clearing member.
2. A clearing member that will clear IRS must have appropriate risk management
capabilities, operational infrastructure, and experience to support its IRS clearing
activity, as prescribed by the Clearing House.
Refer to CME Rule 8F004 (OTC Clearing Member Obligations and Qualifications) and CME Rule
8G04 (IRS Clearing Member Obligations and Qualifications) for additional information.
Membership Requirements
To become a CME clearing member, the firm must purchase and/or acquire by assignment
seven CME memberships (i.e., 2 CME division, 2 IMM division, 2 IOM division and 1 GEM
division). One CME, IMM, IOM and the GEM must be owned by the clearing member or parent
company or individual owner with an acceptable proprietary interest of at least $500,000 in theclearing member (i.e., “firm owned”). The other CME, IMM and IOM memberships may be
independently assigned.

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For clarity, for firms which are only OTC Clearing Members, approved to only clear OTC
products and not Exchange-traded futures and options, there is no membership requirement.
To become a CBOT clearing member, the firm must purchase and/or acquire by assignment
two Full/B-1 CBOT memberships, if the firm is registered with the CFTC as an FCM, or one
Full/B-1 CBOT membership, if the firm is not registered as an FCM. If the firm is required tohave two Full CBOT memberships, one Full membership must be owned by the clearing
member or a person, including a parent company, with an acceptable proprietary interest of atleast $500,000 in the clearing member. The other may be independently assigned. If only one
CBOT Full membership is required to be assigned for clearing membership, then that one
membership must be owned by the clearing member or a person, including a parent company,
with an acceptable proprietary interest of at least $500,000 in the clearing member.
To become a NYMEX clearing member, the firm must purchase and/or acquire by assignment
two NYMEX memberships. One membership must be owned by the clearing member or parent
company or individual owner with an acceptable interest of at least $500,000 in the clearing
member. The other membership may be independently assigned.
To become a COMEX clearing member, the firm must purchase and/or acquire by assignment
two COMEX memberships. One membership must be owned by the clearing member or parent
company or individual owner with an acceptable proprietary interest of at least $500,000 in theclearing member. The other may be independently assigned.
Approved clearing member firms of CME, CBOT and/or NYMEX which also maintain CMEGroup Inc. shares, or participate in the Exchange Monthly Subscription Rate Program, in
accordance with Exchange Rule 106.J. Equity Member Firm requirements are entitled to receive
equity member rates on their proprietary trading. CME and CBOT clearing members who do not
maintain CME Group Inc. shares are entitled to Rule 106.H. Trading Member Firm rates and
NYMEX clearing member firms who do not maintain CME Group Inc. shares are entitled to NonMember rates on their proprietary trading activity. Approved COMEX clearing member receive
equity member rates on their proprietary trading in accordance with Exchange Rule 106.J.
Member Firms.
Guaranty Fund Requirements
All clearing members must deposit with the clearing house a guaranty fund deposit for their
obligations to the Clearing House.
The minimum guarantee fund deposit for a clearing member which will clear exchange tradedfutures and options will be the greatest of:a. $500,000 if clearing futures and options on futures only; or,b. $2,500,000 if clearing OTC spot, forward or swaps contracts; or,c. The clearing member’s proportionate share of the “Aggregate Guaranty Fund Deposit.”

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If the Clearing Member will clear IRS products, the minimum requirement to the IRS guaranty
fund is the greater of:a. $15,000,000; or,b. The IRS clearing member’s proportionate share consistent with CME Rule 8G07.1. (i)and (ii).
The guaranty fund requirements of the Clearing House are stated in Exchange Rule 816(Guaranty Fund Deposit) for Exchange-traded futures and options and OTC derivatives(excluding IRS) in CME Rule 8F07 (Guaranty Fund Deposit); and for IRS products in CME Rule
8G07 (IRS Financial Safeguards and Guaranty Fund Deposit).
Default management procedures for exchange-traded futures and options and OTC products,
excluding IRS, may be found in Exchange Rule 802: Protection of Clearing House.
The Clearing House has established separate guaranty funds for IRS which is separate anddistinct from the guaranty fund for each and all other products. The IRS default management
procedures may be found in CME Rule 8G.802 (Protection of Clearing House) at
http://www.cmegroup.com/rulebook/CME/I/8G/8G.pdf.
Guaranty fund minimums may be increased from time to time, depending on the mix of OTC
asset classes for which the Clearing House provides clearing services.
The Clearing House Oversight Committee, the Clearing House Risk Committee, the IRS Risk
Committee or the Clearing House may prescribe additional financial requirements, including, but
not limited to, increased guaranty fund and/or performance deposit, or grant exemptions.
Capital Requirements
Capital requirements for clearing members which are not Banks are specific to its exchange
membership privileges and, if applicable, any OTC products that it will clear. For non-Bankclearing members, capital is defined as Adjusted Net Capital as computed in accordance with
CFTC Regulation 1.17. For Bank clearing members, capital is defined as Tier I Capital, as
defined in accordance with regulations applicable to the bank clearing member. The following
are the applicable capital requirements:
For a CME Clearing Member, the exchange capital requirement is the greater of the CFTC or
SEC capital requirement or:
For a non-Bank clearing member, the greatest of:• $5,000,000 if it will clear only exchange-traded futures/options; or,• $50,000,000 if a clearing member will clear any OTC derivative product, including, but notlimited to, FX OTC or IRS; or,• 20% of the aggregate performance bond requirement for its proprietary and customer
IRS Contracts.
For a Bank clearing member, the greatest of:• $5,000,000,000 if it will clear exchange-traded futures/options; or,January 2024

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•
•

$50,000,000 if it will clear only OTC derivative products, including, but not limited to, FX
OTC or IRS; or,
20% of the aggregate performance bond requirement for its proprietary and customer
IRS Contracts.

For an OTC ONLY Clearing Member, the exchange capital requirement is the greater of the
CFTC or SEC capital requirement or:
For a non-Bank clearing member:• $5,000,000 if it will clear only agricultural OTC derivative products; or,For a Bank clearing member, the greatest of:• $5,000,000 if it will clear only agricultural OTC derivative products; or,• $50,000,000 if a clearing member will clear any other OTC derivative product, including,but not limited to, FX OTC or IRS; or,• 20% of the aggregate performance bond requirement for its proprietary and customer
IRS Contracts.
For a CBOT Clearing Member, the exchange capital requirement is the greater of the CFTC or
SEC capital requirement or:
For a non-Bank clearing member:• $5,000,000 if it will clear exchange-traded futures/options or agricultural OTC derivative
products; or,• $50,000,000 if it will clear any OTC derivative products excluding agricultural OTC
derivatives.
For a Bank clearing member:• $5,000,000,000 if it will clear exchange-traded futures/options; or,• $50,000,000 if it will clear only OTC derivative products, including, but not limited to,
agricultural OTC derivative products.
For a NYMEX Clearing Member, the exchange capital requirement is the greater of the CFTC or
SEC capital requirement or:
For a non-Bank clearing member:• $5,000,000 if it will clear only exchange-traded futures/options; or,• $50,000,000 if it will clear any OTC derivative products, including, but not limited to energy
OTC derivative products.
For a Bank clearing member:• $5,000,000,000 if it will clear exchange-traded futures/options; or,• $50,000,000 if it will clear only OTC derivative products, including, but not limited to energy
OTC derivative products.
For a COMEX Clearing Member, the exchange capital requirement is the greater of the CFTC or
SEC capital requirement or:
For a non-Bank clearing member:• $5,000,000 if it will clear only exchange-traded futures/options; or,• $50,000,000 if it will clear any OTC derivative products, including, but not limited to metal
OTC derivative products.

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For a Bank clearing member:• $5,000,000,000 if it will clear exchange-traded futures/options; or• $50,000,000 if it will clear only OTC derivative products, including, but not limited to, metal
OTC derivative products.
For additional information on capital requirements, refer to Rule 970 for Exchange-tradedfutures/options, CME Rule 8F004 for OTC derivatives and CME Rule 8G04 for IRS.
The Clearing House Oversight Committee, the Clearing House Risk Committee, the IRS Risk
Committee or the Clearing House may prescribe additional capital requirements or grant
exemptions.
Hedge Funds
Hedge funds approved for clearing membership are subject to various additional requirements
which include, but are not limited to:••

If a hedge fund is the CME, CBOT, NYMEX or COMEX Clearing Member, the hedge
fund is subject to additional requirements, including (i) maintaining separate clearing
accounts for each fund whose activity it will clear, (ii) additional reporting of risk
exposures and liquidity resources from the funds, and (iii) maintaining assets undermanagement of $1 billion.
If the investment manager of a hedge fund is the CME, CBOT, NYMEX or COMEX
Clearing Member, its exchange minimum capital requirement for exchange-tradedfutures/options is $50,000,000 (instead of $5,000,000 per the above).

Settlement and Performance Bond Banks
All clearing members must maintain bank and securities safekeeping accounts at one or more
Clearing House banks for purposes of posting cash and securities to meet mark-to-market
variation, performance bond (i.e., margin) and guaranty fund requirements.
For a complete listing see:
http://www.cmegroup.com/clearing/financial-and-collateral-management/settlement-banks.html
Periodic Financial Reporting Requirements
FCM clearing members are subject to daily, bi-monthly, monthly and annual financial statement
reporting requirements. Clearing members must submit to CME Group‘s Financial andRegulatory Surveillance (“FRS”) Department monthly CFTC Form 1-FRs or SEC FOCUS reports(if a U.S. registered broker dealer) through the WinJammer system, a CME Group electronic
financial statement filing system. Such monthly reporting includes the submission of an unauditedmonthly report as of the clearing member’s fiscal year-end.
In addition, clearing members must submit an annual certified financial statement to CMEGroup's FRS Department within 60 days of its fiscal year-end.

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Clearing members which are not Banks must comply with the requirements set forth in CFTC
Regulations 1.10, 1.12, 1.17 and 1.18 unless an exemption is granted by the Clearing House.
Clearing members which are Banks are required to file any and all financial reports which are
filed with its primary banking regulator. However, such financial reports must be filed on, atleast, a quarterly basis, including as of the bank clearing member’s fiscal year-end if suchreports are also required by its primary banking regulator, and are due five calendar days after
such statements are filed with its primary banking regulator. These financial reports must
demonstrate compliance with the Exchange minimum capital requirements.
In addition, clearing members which are Banks must submit an annual certified financial
statement to CME Group’s FRS Department. The annual certified financial statement is due
five calendar days after such statements are filed with its primary banking regulator.
All clearing members, including clearing members which are not registered as an FCM, shallmake available to the CFTC, upon the CFTC’s request, copies of financial reports required to besubmitted to the FRS Department. The financial reporting requirements of clearing members
are stated in Exchange Rule 970.
Notification Requirements
A clearing member must provide written notice to the FRS Department whenever the clearing
member:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Fails to maintain minimum capital;
Fails to maintain early warning capital;
Fails to maintain current books and records;
Determines the existence of a material inadequacy as specified in CFTC Regulations;
Fails to comply with additional accounting, reporting, financial and/or operational
requirements as prescribed by the Exchange or Clearing House;
Changes its fiscal year; orChanges its public accountant.

In addition, Exchange Rule 972 requires a clearing member to provide written notice to the FRS
Department of any substantial reduction in its capital as compared to the most recently filed
financial report.
The above list is not all inclusive and is in addition to any notifications required by CFTC
regulations.
Clearing members are also subject to additional notification requirements which include, but are
not limited to:
1. Significant Business Transaction or Change in Operations. All clearing members are
required to provide notice to the applicable Exchange prior to any significant business
transaction. The purpose of such notification is to enable the Clearing House to better
identify and monitor risks presented by significant business transactions. The notification

January 20248requirements are contained in Exchange Rule 901.H (General Requirements andObligations).
Corporate organization and structure changes may be subject to review and approval by
the Clearing House Oversight Committee or Exchange staff.
2. Firm Contact Listings. Maintaining up-to-date personnel contact information is critical inorder to continue communications with our clearing members during normal, as well ascrisis, situations. Therefore, clearing members are required to immediately notify theapplicable Exchange of all changes to its key personnel and update its personnel contact
information via the CME Firm Contact System portal when changes occur. Firm personnel
are required to review its personnel listing and inform the Exchange whenever a change totheir key personnel occurs. Refer to Rule 983.B.
3. Ownership Changes. All clearing members must submit and maintain with the FRS
Department a current list of every person or entity that is directly or indirectly throughintermediaries, the beneficial owner of 10% or more of any class of equity security of theclearing member.

Other Clearing Membership Requirements (General)
1. Futures Commission Merchant Activity. Clearing members that are registered as FCMs
are required to maintain appropriate staff, systems, procedures and controls to meet therequirements and obligations of being an FCM. This includes, but is not limited to, staff
with customer futures industry experience who are conversant with CFTC customer
protection, capital adequacy and compliance rules; bookkeeping systems to account forcustomers futures activity and regulatory reporting requirements; performance bond, risk
management and other compliance procedures and sufficient internal accounting controls
over safeguarding customer and firm assets.
2. Anti-Money Laundering and Economic Sanctions Compliance. All clearing members are
required to have a written compliance program approved by its senior management whichis reasonably designed to achieve and monitor the clearing member’s compliance with allapplicable requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act, the International Emergency Economic
Powers Act, the Trading with the Enemy Act, Executive Orders and the regulations issued
by the U.S. Department of Treasury. Refer to Rule 981 (Anti-Money Laundering andEconomic Sanctions Compliance).
3. Risk Management. All clearing members must have written risk management policies andprocedures in place to ensure they are able to perform certain basic risk and operational
functions at all times.
A clearing member that will clear OTC products must have sufficient risk management andoperational procedures in place for its OTC activity. These risk management andoperational procedures include procedures for settlement and default management.
Refer to Rule 982 (Risk Management), CME Rule 8F010 (Risk Management) and 8G10
(Risk Management).
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4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity. All clearing members must have written
disaster recovery and business continuity policies and procedures in place to ensure they
are able to perform certain basic operational functions in the event of a significant internalor external interruption to their operations. Refer to Exchange Rule 983 (Disaster
Recovery and Business Continuity).
5. Required Records and Reports. The books and records of a clearing member shall bemade promptly available for inspection upon request by the Exchange. Refer to Rule980 (Required Records and Reports), CME Rule 8F0004.9 (OTC Clearing Member
Obligations and Qualifications) and 8G04 (IRS Clearing Member Obligations andQualifications).
6. Cross Guarantee. Unless an exemption is granted, all clearing members must submit to
the Exchange a written cross guarantee, on a form provided by the Exchange, from eachclearing member where the clearing member shares ownership of 10% or more with anyother clearing member. By executing the cross guarantee, each clearing member
guarantees the obligations of the other clearing member to the Clearing House. This rule isapplicable if any CME, CBOT, NYMEX, COMEX or OTC Derivatives Clearing Member hascommon ownership of 10% or more. Refer to Rule 901.G (General Requirements andObligations).
Note: If a cross guarantee affiliation exists, absent an exemption, only one entity may
trade in a given OTC clearing class within the house origin (i.e., only one entity may clear
IRS activity).
7. Examinations. Each clearing member will be subject to on-site examinations and on-goingoversight by the Clearing House Risk Committee. Required documents must be
submitted in a timely manner and in the requested format.
Other Clearing Membership Requirements
1. Customer Activity: If the clearing member will clear Exchange-traded futures/options,foreign futures/options for U.S. customers or OTC derivative products for customer
accounts, it must be properly registered or authorized for such activity by its primary
regulator and it must be registered as an FCM with the CFTC and NFA. FCMs are
subject to CFTC rules and regulations including rules and regulations pertaining toregulatory capital, financial reporting, and customer protection.
Exchange-traded futures/options for the account of a customer will be held in a
Customer Segregated Account. Foreign futures and/or foreign options traded by U.S.
customers must be held in a Customer Secured 30.7 Account. OTC derivatives
submitted to clearing for the account of a customer will be assigned and held in a
Customer Cleared Swap Account unless the CFTC has issued an order permitting
particular OTC derivatives products to be included in customer segregated accounts.
Refer to CME Rule 8F003 (Classification of Positions) and CME Rule 8G03
(Classification of Positions).
Clearing Members are required to:January 2024

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•
•
•
•
•
•

Maintain sufficient funds in segregated, secured and cleared swap accounts;
Compute, record and report daily Segregation, Secured and Cleared Swap
Amounts Statements;
Compute, record and report semi-monthly, investments of segregated, secured
30.7 and cleared swap customer funds;
Obtain satisfactory segregation, secured and cleared swap acknowledgement
letters;
Allow and provide for access to account information, in a form and mannerprescribed by FRS Department, for each FCM clearing member’s customer
segregated, secured 30.7 and cleared swap customer account;
Provide immediate written notice to CME Group’s FRS Department of a failure to
maintain sufficient funds in segregation, secured or cleared swap accounts;
Provide notice of pre-approval by CEO, CFO or authorized representative ofdisbursement not made for the benefit of customers from segregated, secured
30.7 or cleared swap customer account which exceeds 25% of the previous
day’s excess funds in the respective origin.

Refer to CFTC Regulations 1.20 through 1.32 regarding customer segregated protection
requirements, CFTC Regulation 30.1 through 30.12 regarding customer secured
protection requirements, CFTC Regulation Part 22 regarding cleared swap protection
requirements and CME Rules 8F regarding cleared OTC derivatives customer protection
requirements.
2. All clearing members must ensure that its customers meet any eligibility requirements
established for trading certain OTC derivatives products.
All OTC derivative transactions must be identified with an account number which
identifies the originator of the transaction and indicate whether the transaction was
executed as a proprietary or customer transaction. In addition, a clearing member mustregister all “ultimate” or end customers. Refer to CME Rule 8F009. (Customer
Registration)

Disclaimer
This summary is designed to provide a brief overview of the requirements for CME, CBOT,NYMEX and COMEX Clearing Membership and OTC Derivatives Clearing Membership. The
information contained in this summary has been compiled by CME Group for general purposes
only. All matters pertaining to rules and specifications herein are made subject to and aresuperseded by official Exchange rules. Current rules should always be consulted.

January 202411