73734 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 176 / Wednesday, September 11, 2024 / Notices 

1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1). 

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3Treasury Policy Section ‘‘II. The Treasury 

Department.’’ 

Contract 297 to Competitive Product 

List and Notice of Filing Materials 

Under Seal; Filing Acceptance Date: 

September 4, 2024; Filing Authority: 39 

U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR 3040.130 through 

3040.135, and 39 CFR 3035.105; Public 

Representative: Arif Hafiz; Comments 

Due: September 12, 2024. 

This Notice will be published in the 

Federal Register. 

Erica A. Barker, 

Secretary. 

Media Inquiries 

Gail Adams 

gail.adams@prc.gov 

[FR Doc. 2024–20436 Filed 9–10–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–100935; File No. SR–ICC– 

2024–005] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; ICE 

Clear Credit LLC; Notice of Filing of 

Proposed Rule Change Relating to 

ICC’s Treasury Operations Policies 

and Procedures 

September 5, 2024. 

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934,1 15 

U.S.C. 78s(b)(1) and Rule 19b–4,2 notice 

is hereby given that on August 22, 2024, 

ICE Clear Credit LLC (‘‘ICC’’) filed with 

the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (‘‘Commission’’) the 

proposed rule change as described in 

Items I, II and III below, which Items 

have been primarily prepared by ICC. 

The Commission is publishing this 

notice to solicit comments on the 

proposed rule change from interested 

persons. 

I. Clearing Agency’s Statement of the 

Terms of Substance of the Proposed 

Rule Change 

The principal purpose of the 

proposed rule change is to revise the 

ICC Treasury Operations Policies and 

Procedures (‘‘Treasury Policy’’). These 

revisions do not require any changes to 

the ICC Clearing Rules (the ‘‘Rules’’). 

II. Clearing Agency’s Statement of the 

Purpose of, and Statutory Basis for, the 

Proposed Rule Change 

In its filing with the Commission, ICC 

included statements concerning the 

purpose of and basis for the proposed 

rule change, security-based swap 

submission, or advance notice and 

discussed any comments it received on 

the proposed rule change, securitybased swap submission, or advance 

notice. The text of these statements may 

be examined at the places specified in 

Item IV below. ICC has prepared 

summaries, set forth in sections (A), (B), 

and (C) below, of the most significant 

aspects of these statements. 

(A) Clearing Agency’s Statement of the 

Purpose of, and Statutory Basis for, the 

Proposed Rule Change 

(a) Purpose 

ICE Clear Credit is proposing to 

amend its Treasury Policy. The purpose 

of the Treasury Policy is to articulate the 

policies and procedures used to support 

the ICC Treasury Department (the 

‘‘Treasury Department’’), which is 

responsible for daily cash and collateral 

management of margin and guaranty 

fund assets. The purpose of the 

proposed changes is to make various 

updates and clarifications, including to 

further explain the goals and the 

responsibilities of the ICC Treasury 

Department in performing treasury 

functions for cleared contracts, as well 

as safeguarding securities and funds in 

custody. The amendments also clarify 

the timing of the return of a 

withdrawing Clearing Participant’s 

(‘‘CP’’) guaranty fund (‘‘GF’’) deposit to 

be consistent with the Rules, as 

discussed herein. The amendments 

would clarify the ICC investment policy 

with respect to ICC’s own operating 

capital to provide greater flexibility to 

make direct investments, as discussed 

below, and update various references to 

SWIFT messaging so as not to become 

outdated. Various non-substantive 

drafting changes and improvements 

would also be made throughout the 

Treasury Policy, such as updating the 

use of defined terms, correcting 

typographical errors and similar 

changes. The amendments do not 

represent a change in ICC’s practices 

relating to treasury management, but 

rather are intended to improve and 

clarify the documentation and 

descriptions of such practices. 

ICC proposes to update the treasury 

department section of the Treasury 

Policy.3 The amendments would update 

the statement of the overall 

responsibilities of ICC, aided by the 

Treasury Department, to specifically 

reference facilitating the prompt and 

accurate clearing and settlement of 

securities transactions and derivatives, 

and safeguarding securities and funds in 

ICC’s custody or control for which it is 

responsible. Additionally, the 

amendments would remove the 

reference to the ICC Risk Management 

Framework when developing 

investment and collateral management 

strategies. The amendments would 

clarify certain references and terms 

throughout this section, such as 

referencing the ‘‘General Guaranty 

Fund’’ as defined in ICC Rule 102, as 

well as referencing cash and non-cash 

collateral (which was previously 

phrased as ‘‘cash and collateral’’ or 

‘‘cash or collateral’’) throughout the 

Treasury Policy. With respect to the 

Treasury Departments responsibilities to 

manage Guaranty Fund requirements 

and ‘‘posting’’ by Clearing Participants, 

the amendments would change the 

reference from ‘‘posting’’ to ‘‘collateral 

postings’’ to provide a clearer and more 

accurate description of Treasury’s 

responsibilities. Certain references to 

margin accounts, margin payments and 

margin requirements or processes (and 

words of similar effect) will be revised 

to refer more generally to accounts, 

payments and related clearing or 

processes requirements (or 

requirements), in order to more broadly 

reference overall payment requirements 

from the clearing process (which 

include but are not limited to margin). 

The amendments would highlight that 

ICE Clear Credit, rather than ICE Clear 

Credit’s Risk Department, generates 

daily requirements for all Clearing 

Participants (including requirements for 

indirect participants i.e., Client-Related 

requirements) because such 

requirements are generated 

automatically by ICE Clear Credit’s 

clearing systems as opposed being 

generated specifically by ICE Clear 

Credit’s Risk Department. Further, the 

amendments note that such daily 

requirements are based on the Clearing 

Participants’ cleared ‘‘positions’’ rather 

than their cleared ‘‘trades’’ as positions 

is a more accurate description of a 

Clearing Participants cleared activity at 

ICE Clear Credit. The amendments also 

clarify the Treasury Departments 

responsibility in ensuring that payments 

are received from Clearing Participants 

by removing an incorrect reference to 

ensuring that payments are honored by 

Clearing Participants’ banking 

relationships. Under ICC’s existing 

direct settlement model, as discussed 

below, Clearing Participants are 

responsible to ensure that ICC timely 

receives all required payments; 

completion of settlement is not based on 

whether a Clearing Participant’s bank 

honors a payment direction. Similarly, 

references to settlement issues have 

been generalized to reference treasury 

management related issues, and 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 176 / Wednesday, September 11, 2024 / Notices 73735 

4Treasury Policy Section ‘‘III. Funds 

Management.’’ 

5Table 1 Collateral Liquidation Assumptions (US 

Dollar denominated requirements); Table 2 

Collateral Liquidation Assumptions (Euro 

denominated requirements); Table 3 House Initial 

Margin & Guaranty Fund Liquidity Requirements 

(Non-Client US Dollar denominated requirements); 

and Table 4 House Initial Margin & Guaranty Fund 

Liquidity Requirements (Non-Client Euro 

denominated requirements) (collectively, the 

‘‘Tables’’). 

6Treasury Policy Section III, Sub-Section ‘‘D. 

Participants’ Withdrawal.’’ 

7Treasury Policy Section ‘‘IV. Cash Settlement.’’ 

references to substitution of collateral 

for cash have been replaced by the more 

general description of performing 

collateral substitutions. These changes 

do not reflect a substantive change in 

practice, but rather are intended to 

provide a more comprehensive overall 

description of relevant payment 

practices. In the statement of the 

Treasury Departments role in 

developing of investment and collateral 

management strategies, the amendments 

would remove an outdated reference to 

such activities being done within the 

ICC Risk Management Framework, as 

the relevant investment and collateral 

management policies are now set out in 

the Treasury Policy rather than in the 

framework. The amendment would also 

generalize a reference to cash 

management to the broader term 

collateral management to more fully 

describe the scope of this activity and 

for consistency throughout the Treasury 

Policy. The amendments also clarify the 

organizational structure of the Treasury 

Department function, as overseen by the 

ICC Treasury Director who reports to the 

ICC Chief Operating Officer (‘‘COO’’) 

(and clarifies that the ICC Treasury 

Department is not and has never been a 

part of the operations department). 

ICC also proposes to update the funds 

management section of the Treasury 

Policy.4 The amendments would add 

conforming references to 

‘‘requirements’’ in certain places for 

consistency in referring to margin and 

Guaranty Fund requirements. In 

addition, the amendments would clarify 

or add various defined terms relating to 

margin, including a defined term for 

‘‘Margin’’ covering both initial and 

mark-to-market margin. A definitional 

footnote relating to the Guaranty Fund 

would be removed as unnecessary in 

light of prior references to that term in 

the Treasury Policy. Additionally, the 

amendments would clarify that the 

funds would include both cash and noncash collateral. For completeness and 

consistency with the existing Rules and 

other procedures of ICC, the 

amendments would state that ICC 

maintains and manages ‘‘House Margin’’ 

and ‘‘Client Margin’’ separately. The 

amendments also clarify that required 

initial margin and GF contributions are 

held in a manner that minimizes the 

risk of loss or delay in access, consistent 

with regulatory requirements (which 

reflects the standard under applicable 

regulations), rather than referring only 

to highly liquid and short-term 

investments. Under Section III.B., 

Investment Strategy, various conforming 

and non-substantive drafting changes 

would be made, including to the use of 

appropriate defined terms and 

consistent references to cash collateral 

(instead of cash). References in the 

existing Treasury Policy to certain 

investments to be made by the Director 

of Treasury would be revised to simply 

refer to the Treasury Department as a 

whole, reflecting actual practice that 

investments are made by Treasury 

Department personnel subject to the 

supervision of the Director of Treasury. 

In the discussion of investment of US 

dollar cash, additional clarifying 

language would be added to this section 

such as describing the role of the 

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago 

(‘‘FRB’’) as a depository and noting that 

US dollar cash may be invested in US 

Treasury/Agency reverse repurchase 

agreements rather than just Treasury/ 

Agency reverse repurchase agreements. 

The amendments would also reflect that 

ICC currently maintains multiple 

accounts (rather than a single account) 

at the FRB, as discussed below. For 

reverse repo transactions, the 

amendments would also remove an 

unnecessary description of certain 

settlement arrangements and 

unnecessary statements regarding steps 

ICC would take to ensure replacement 

securities are eligible and valued 

correctly when a substitution of 

securities becomes necessary (as ICC 

does not believe such matters are 

relevant to the level of detail of the 

description contained in the Treasury 

Policy). The amendments would revise 

the description of the calculation of the 

minimum cash required to be invested 

in bilateral reverse repos to reflect 45% 

of the top two Clearing Participants’ 

Margin requirements (taking into 

account specifically both initial and 

mark-to-market margin requirements, as 

opposed to referencing the generalized 

phrase ‘‘risk margin’’), as ICC believes 

that this is the more detailed and 

accurate description of ICC’s current 

practices. Additionally, the 

amendments would acknowledge that 

bilateral reverse repo transactions may 

be settled through alternative 

counterparties that may be added in the 

future to account for the possibility that 

ICE Clear Credit’s financial service 

provider relationships may change in 

the future. The amendments would also 

clarify that ICC in practice uses more 

than one outside investment manager to 

facilitate its investment of Guaranty 

Fund and margin cash. 

ICC also proposes revisions to the 

Tables of collateral liquidity 

requirements contained in Section III of 

the Treasury Policy 5 to update various 

defined terms and references (both in 

the text of the Tables and the titles of 

the Tables) to be consistent with the 

other amendments being made to the 

Treasury Policy, such as to use the 

defined term Margin and to conform the 

terminology for the currencies and 

collateral (US Dollar Cash, EUR Cash, 

and US Treasury Securities). An 

amendment will also change a reference 

from ‘‘assets’’ to ‘‘collateral’’, to more 

precisely describe the collateral being 

described. A statement relating to 

additional margin that may be called 

where a clearing participant does not 

meet the required liquidity 

requirements has been clarified to refer 

more precisely to initial margin. In 

addition, ICC proposes revising the 

participant withdrawals’ sub-section of 

Section III of the Treasury Policy 6 to 

reflect that the requirements described 

are based on the ICC Rules and to add 

a statement that Guaranty Fund deposits 

will not be returned until after all 

positions of the withdrawing participant 

have been closed out and all liabilities 

of the participant to ICC have been 

satisfied, in order to be consistent with 

the requirements of existing Rule 807. 

The amendments would also remove a 

statement that if a participant provides 

notice of withdrawal less than 60 days 

from the end of the calendar quarter, its 

withdrawal will not be effective until 

the end of the following quarter, as this 

requirement is not set forth in the Rules. 

The discussion of ICC’s use of 

committed repo facilities would clarify 

that any expenses (including but not 

limited to interest expenses) incurred 

through such facilities following a 

Clearing Participant default will be 

attributed to the account of that CP, 

consistent with the general approach for 

allocation of close-out costs to a 

defaulter under the Rules. 

ICC proposes revising the cash 

settlement section of the Treasury 

Policy.7 Under the cash settlement 

section, the examples of types of 

transaction payments have been 

expanded to include options premia and 

interest on Mark-to-Market Margin, 

reflecting current practice. The 

amendments would also add further 


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73736 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 176 / Wednesday, September 11, 2024 / Notices 

8Treasury Policy Section IV. Sub-Section ‘‘A.7. 

Failure of Settlement Bank to Perform.’’ 

9Treasury Policy Section ‘‘V. Custodial Assets.’’ 

10Treasury Policy Section V, Sub-Section ‘‘B.3. 

Collateral ‘‘Haircut’’ Methodology.’’ 

explanation of the existing ICC direct 

settlement model used to manage cash 

movements, for consistency and to 

provide greater clarity as to settlement 

operations. As described, the direct 

settlement requires the Clearing 

Participants to establish settlement bank 

arrangements and make requested 

payments to ICC in the required 

timeframe. ICC maintains direct debit 

authority over the settlement bank 

accounts of Clearing Participants. 

In addition, the amendments to 

Section IV would add to the current 

criteria for ICE Clear Credit’s settlement 

banks (which include requirements as to 

regulation and supervision, capital 

requirements for non-US institution, 

absence of majority sovereign 

ownership, internal ICC credit 

requirements and operational 

capability) a requirement that the bank 

provide specific liquidity information, 

in order to facilitate management by ICC 

of liquidity risk from settlement 

arrangements. This would include 

providing information as to the bank’s 

liquidity coverage ratio, and if that is 

not reported by the bank, ICC would use 

other criteria (e.g., requesting a 

description of the bank’s liquidity risk 

management policy and/or requesting 

the liquidity coverage ratio of the bank’s 

affiliated reporting entity within the 

bank’s group) based on ICC’s discretion, 

to assess the liquidity risks arising from 

settlement banks. In addition, as 

revised, the Treasury Policy would no 

longer specify particular backup 

settlement banks for ICC but reference a 

general requirement for ICC to maintain 

appropriate backup relationships. ICC 

believes this approach is preferable and 

avoids the need to amend the Treasury 

Policy if backup arrangements change. 

The amendments would add further 

description of the daily settlement 

process (including as to cases where no 

net settlement is owed and bank 

holidays), as set forth below. Consistent 

with the added description of the direct 

settlement model as noted above, the 

amendments would state the 

responsibility of Clearing Participants to 

ensure that ICC timely receives all 

requested payments and note that 

failure to make timely payments may be 

a default. This proposed change 

provides greater clarity as to ICC’s 

current practices. In the discussion of 

routine settlement procedures, an 

erroneous reference to contacting an 

agent bank in the event of a late 

payment would be removed (as the 

Clearing Participant would be contacted 

directly). The amendments would also 

add statements describing the daily 

settlement process as being conducted 

every business day and regarding the 

timing of settlement finality under the 

direct settlement model. Consistent with 

current practice, settlement would be 

deemed final and irrevocable at the 

earlier of the time when ICC received 

the relevant payment, or a financial 

institution used by ICC sends a 

confirmation message that payment has 

been made. As noted above, the 

amendments would also remove 

references to various specific types of 

SWIFT messages (in light of the 

possibility that specific SWIFT message 

types may be modified, renamed or 

changed from time to time by SWIFT), 

and describe such messages more 

generally. In the case of non-routine 

settlement, the amendments would 

remove an unnecessary reference to a 

specific SWIFT settlement instruction, 

since ICC and the Clearing Participant 

in question would be expected to 

separately confirm the particulars of the 

settlement. 

In the discussion of a SWIFT outage, 

the amendments would clarify that the 

relevant scenario arises where ICC is 

unable to send SWIFT messages to the 

Clearing Participants’ settlement banks 

(correcting an erroneous reference to 

ICC’s direct settlement banks). The 

amendments would revise certain 

procedures for communicating directly 

with CP’s in the event of a SWIFT 

outage (removing an incorrect reference 

to communicating with ICC’s direct 

settlement banks as above). The 

amendments would also address 

correcting or re-issuing a SWIFT 

message in the event of a non-payment 

for certain technical reasons and remove 

certain references to specific types of 

SWIFT messages or reports that ICC 

believes are unnecessary, and such 

specific message types may be modified, 

renamed or changed from time to time 

(as noted above). The amendment 

would also remove a requirement that 

certain emails be password protected (as 

ICC does not believe email security 

measures need to be set out in the 

Treasury Policy). With respect to the 

discussion of bank-to-bank messages, 

the amendments would remove 

references to specific settlement banks 

and instead refer to the applicable ICC 

settlement bank generally (to avoid the 

need to amend the Treasury Policy in 

the event of any change in settlement 

banks). With respect to the scenario 

where a bank rejects a SWIFT debt 

message because of a technical defect, 

the amendments will remove a specific 

requirement to manually update the 

transaction summary report and 

manually initiate a specific reversal or 

correction message and add instead a 

general obligation to correct the prior 

message or reissue a corrected message. 

ICC proposes revisions to settlement 

bank failure sub-section of Section IV of 

the Treasury Policy.8 In the event that 

a settlement bank fails to perform, ICE 

Clear Credit would instruct the CP to 

wire the funds to the ICE Clear Credit 

accounts at an alternate settlement bank. 

The amendments broaden the list of 

such alternate settlement banks that 

may be designated by ICC. 

In the discussion of ICC’s use of the 

FRB Accounts for depository purposes, 

the amendments would update the 

Treasury Policy to reflect that ICC 

currently maintains separate FRB 

Accounts for house and client margin in 

light of applicable segregation 

requirements (removing and updating 

certain outdated language that 

contemplated a scenario where ICC 

might only have one FRB account). 

Other amendments in this section make 

non-substantive changes to the use of 

defined terms (including new terms 

House Account and Client Account as 

well as replacing FRB customer cash 

account and FRB House cash account 

with FRB House Account and replacing 

FRB Client cash account with FRB 

Client Account). Certain conforming 

changes would also be made to 

consistently refer to Guaranty Fund and 

House Accounts in this section. 

Further, ICC proposes revisions to the 

custodial assets section of the Treasury 

Policy.9 The amendments would 

reference ongoing monitoring according 

to ICE Clear Credit’s Counterparty 

Monitoring Procedures (rather than 

identifying only a specific annual report 

that is no longer required to be 

submitted as ICC Counterparty 

Monitoring Procedures contain detailed 

procedures regarding the monitoring of 

the operational capabilities of the 

custodial banks). Outdated language 

that contemplated a scenario where ICC 

might have only one FRB securities 

account has also been removed. 

Amendments would identify market 

risk management as well as liquidity 

risk management as goals of ICC’s 

policies relating to acceptable forms of 

collateral and associated haircuts. 

Certain typographical and other nonsubstantive drafting changes would be 

made in the discussion of collateral 

valuation. 

ICC proposes revisions to the 

collateral ‘‘haircut’’ sub-section of 

Section V of the Treasury Policy.10 The 


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11Treasury Policy Section ‘‘VI. Treasury 

Management for Client Business.’’ 

12Treasury Policy Section ‘‘VII. Treasury 

Reconciliations.’’ 

13 15 U.S.C. 78q–1. 

14 15 U.S.C. 78q–1(b)(3)(F). 

15 15 U.S.C. 78q–1(b)(3)(F). 

16 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22. 

17 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22(e)(5). 

discussion of the collateral haircut 

methodology would be revised to refer 

to cash and non-cash collateral 

generally, rather than just US Treasuries 

and non-USD currencies (as the current 

list of eligible collateral is not limited to 

those specific assets). Other conforming 

non-substantive changes will be made 

consistent with the rest of the Treasury 

Policy. Amendments would also require 

that the Treasury Department provide a 

report of current haircuts to the ICC Risk 

Department at a minimum once a month 

(as opposed to only once a month) and 

require that the report be provided 

whether or not changes were made 

during the month. This approach 

reflects ICC’s current practices. The 

amendments would also reflect current 

practice that haircuts are made publicly 

available, and any haircut changes are 

notified to CP’s (and not only on a 

monthly basis). In the excess collateral 

sub-section, ICC proposes noting that 

requests by Clearing Participants to 

transfer excess collateral must be 

completed prior to 9:00 a.m. ET for both 

EUR and British pound sterling (‘‘GBP’’) 

denominated collateral rather than only 

for EUR denominated collateral as this 

sub-section did not contain the 

applicable GBP deadline for the transfer 

of excess GBP denominated collateral. 

In the section of the Treasury Policy 

relating to treasury management of 

client business,11 various nonsubstantive drafting changes would be 

made, including to use the defined 

terms House Account, Client Account 

and Client Positions and Margin and 

conform references to various types of 

cash and non-cash collateral. An 

unnecessary reference to daily payment 

processes would also be removed. 

ICC also proposes revisions to the 

treasury reconciliations section of the 

Treasury Policy.12 As amended, the 

Treasury Policy will clarify that the 

Treasury Department conducts a daily 

reconciliation process for its cash and 

non-cash collateral accounts in 

accordance with its internal procedures, 

which include cite checks for validating 

status of margin payments, a check of 

prior-day cash balances, withdrawals, 

and/or deposits, and a comparison of 

current and expected balances. With 

respect to the cite checks description, 

ICC proposes to replace the vague and 

undefined phrase ‘‘ISG requests’’ with 

the generalized and descriptive phrase 

‘‘transaction activity’’ to improve 

clarity. 

Other amendments would correct the 

identification of ICC’s SWIFT BIC code 

and update cross-references to ICC’s 

Counterparty Monitoring Procedures 

(which was formerly referred to as the 

CDS Clearing Counterparty Monitoring 

Procedures). 

ICC also proposes changes to 

Appendix 1: ICE Clear Credit Operating 

Capital Investment Policy. The 

amendments provide that the use of 

direct investments in US Treasury 

securities is not limited to cases where 

other investments (e.g., reverse repo 

investments) are unavailable; rather, the 

revised guidelines would contemplate 

the use of direct investments primarily 

for stable balances (such as amounts 

held for regulatory capital purposes). 

ICC believes the change provides greater 

flexibility for investment of such 

balances while preserving the credit 

quality of investments. Revisions to the 

guidelines for reverse repo investments 

in Appendix 2 would reflect that the 

value of collateral must be 102% of the 

invested amount (rather than within a 

range of 100.5% to 102%). This change 

reflects current market practice and 

provides greater protection to ICC. 

References to certain specific banks in 

key contacts in Appendix 2 also will be 

removed as unnecessary; ICC does not 

believe such contacts need to be 

maintained in the Treasury Policy, 

given the likelihood of changes in 

contact details. 

ICC proposes a number of other 

drafting clarifications and conforming 

changes, such as updating names and 

uses of relevant defined terms, deleting 

outdated references and other nonsubstantive drafting improvements, 

would also be made throughout the 

Treasury Policy document. Various 

provisions and footnotes would also be 

relabeled or renumbered in the Treasury 

Policy. 

(b) Statutory Basis 

ICE Clear Credit believes that the 

proposed amendments to the Treasury 

Policy are consistent with the 

requirements of Section 17A of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the 

‘‘Act’’) 13 and the regulations thereunder 

applicable to it. In particular, Section 

17A(b)(3)(F) of the Act 14 requires, 

among other things, that the rules of a 

clearing agency be designed to promote 

the prompt and accurate clearance and 

settlement of securities transactions 

and, to the extent applicable, derivative 

agreements, contracts, and transactions, 

the safeguarding of securities and funds 

in the custody or control of the clearing 

agency or for which it is responsible, 

and the protection of investors and the 

public interest. The proposed 

amendments are designed to generally 

improve the clarity of the Treasury 

Policy and make certain related 

enhancements, including clarifying the 

investment guidelines for investment of 

ICC’s own capital, clarifications to the 

roles and responsibilities of the ICC 

Treasury Department function and 

clarifications concerning SWIFT 

messaging procedures. ICC believes the 

changes to the investment guidelines 

will facilitate stable investment of ICC’s 

own capital and provide useful 

flexibility for the clearing house. The 

changes will not result in a change to 

current ICC Treasury Department 

practices. ICC therefore believes the 

amendments will help ensure that the 

Treasury Policy remain up-to-date and 

clearly articulate ICC’s Treasury 

Department practices, and as such will 

promote the prompt and accurate 

clearance and settlement of securities 

transactions and derivatives agreements, 

contracts and transactions, contribute to 

the safeguarding of securities and funds 

which are in the custody or control of 

ICC or for which it is responsible, and 

generally promote the protection of 

investors and the public interest in the 

operation of clearing services, within 

the meaning of Section 17A(b)(3)(F) of 

the Act.15

The amendments also comply with 

relevant provisions of Rule 17Ad–22.16

In particular, Rule 17Ad–22(e)(5) 

provides that ‘‘[e]ach covered clearing 

agency shall establish, implement, 

maintain and enforce written policies 

and procedures reasonably designed to, 

as applicable . . . [l]imit the assets it 

accepts as collateral to those with low 

credit, liquidity and market risks, and 

set and enforce appropriately 

conservative haircuts and concentration 

limits if [it] requires collateral to 

manage its or its participants’ credit 

exposure, and require a review of the 

sufficiency of its collateral haircuts and 

concentration limits to be performed not 

less than annually.’’ 17 As set forth 

above, the amendments to the Treasury 

Policy would make clarifying changes to 

the responsibilities of the Treasury 

Department and procedures relating to 

the management of funds constituting 

operating capital as well as GF 

contributions and margin, banking 

relationships, and acceptable collateral 

and haircuts, among other matters. As 

such, the amendments would facilitate 

the ability of ICC to limit the assets it 


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18 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22(e)(5). 

19 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22(e)(8). 

20 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22(e)(8). 

21 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22(e)(9). 

22 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22(e)(9). 

23 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22(e)(16). 

24 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22(e)(16). 

25 17 CFR 240.17 Ad–22(e)(3)(i). 

26 17 CFR 240.17 Ad–22(e)(3)(i). 

27 17 CFR 240.17 Ad–22(e)(2)(i). 

28 17 CFR 240.17 Ad–22(e)(2)(v). 

29 17 CFR 240.17 Ad–22(e)(2). 

accepts as collateral to those with low 

credit, market and liquidity risks, 

consistent with the requirements of Rule 

17Ad–22(e)(5).18

Rule 17Ad–22(e)(8) provides that 

‘‘[e]ach covered clearing agency shall 

establish, implement, maintain and 

enforce written policies and procedures 

reasonably designed to, as applicable 

[. . .] define the point at which 

settlement is final to be no later than the 

end of the day on which the payment 

or obligation is due and, where 

necessary or appropriate, intraday or in 

real time.’’ 19 The amendments would 

state clearly the time at which 

settlement of daily payments is deemed 

final, as the earlier of (i) when ICC 

receives the payment or (ii) when a 

financial institution used by ICC sends 

a relevant confirmation message that the 

payment has been made, which is 

consistent with ICC practice and is 

within the timeframe required under 

Rule 17Ad–22(e)(8).20

Rule 17Ad–22(e)(9) requires that 

‘‘[e]ach covered clearing agency shall 

establish, implement, maintain and 

enforce written policies and procedures 

reasonably designed to, as applicable 

[. . .] conduct its money settlements in 

central bank money, where available 

and determined to be practical . . . and 

minimize and manage credit and 

liquidity risk arising from conducting its 

monetary settlements in commercial 

bank money if central bank money is 

not used by the covered clearing 

agency’’.21 As set forth above, the 

amendments make certain clarifications 

to the descriptions ICC’s settlement 

banking arrangements (through FRB 

accounts and with settlement banks) to 

more clearly reflect current practice by 

the clearing house. As such, in ICC’s 

view, the amendments are consistent 

with the requirements of Rule 17Ad– 

22(e)(9).22

Rule 17Ad–22(e)(16) provides that 

‘‘[e]ach covered clearing agency shall 

establish, implement, maintain and 

enforce written policies and procedures 

reasonably designed to, as applicable 

[. . .] safeguard the covered clearing 

agency’s own and its participants’ 

assets, minimize the risk of loss and 

delay in access to these assets, and 

invest such assets in instruments with 

minimal credit, market and liquidity 

risks.’’ 23 As noted above, the 

amendments would provide greater 

flexibility for ICC to invest its own 

capital through direct investments in US 

treasury securities, particularly in the 

case where it is investing stable 

balances. In that context, and given the 

maturity limitations that will 

nonetheless apply, ICC believes that 

such investments would have minimal 

credit, market and liquidity risks for 

ICC, and accordingly would be 

consistent with Rule 17Ad–22(e)(16).24

Rule 17Ad–22(e)(3)(i) provides that 

‘‘[e]ach covered clearing agency shall 

establish, implement, maintain and 

enforce written policies and procedures 

reasonably designed to, as applicable 

[. . .] identify, measure, monitor, and 

manage the range of risks that arise in 

or are borne by the covered clearing 

agency’’.25 The Treasury Policy is 

intended to assist ICC, among other 

matters, in accurately assessing and 

managing certain of its investment risks, 

collateral risks and liquidity risks 

relating to margin, GF and other assets 

held by ICC. As set forth above, the 

amendments are generally intended to 

update the Treasury Policy and make 

various drafting improvements for 

purposes of clarifications. In keeping 

the relevant policies up-to-date, ICC 

believes the amendments are consistent 

with the risk management requirements 

of Rule 17Ad–22(e)(3)(i).26

Rule 17Ad–22(e)(2) provides that 

‘‘[e]ach covered clearing agency shall 

establish, implement, maintain and 

enforce written policies and procedures 

reasonably designed to, as applicable 

[. . .] [p]rovide for governance 

arrangements that are [c]lear and 

transparent’’ 27 and ‘‘[s]pecify clear and 

direct lines of responsibility.’’ 28 As 

proposed to be revised, the Treasury 

Policy would clearly state certain 

responsibilities of the Treasury 

Department, among other parts of ICC, 

in relation to oversight of its practices 

regarding treasury functions and 

collateral management. The 

amendments would make certain 

clarifications and drafting 

improvements that will keep these 

aspects of the Treasury Policy up-todate and effective for their purposes. In 

ICE Clear Credit’s view, the 

amendments to the Treasury Policy are 

therefore consistent with the 

requirements of Rule 17Ad–22(e)(2).29

(B) Clearing Agency’s Statement on 

Burden on Competition 

ICE Clear Credit does not believe the 

proposed amendments would have any 

impact, or impose any burden, on 

competition not necessary or 

appropriate in furtherance of the 

purposes of the Act. The amendments 

are being adopted to update and clarify 

the Treasury Policy. As set forth above, 

the proposed amendments are not 

expected to materially change the 

treasury operations of ICC but rather 

update general language to more clearly 

describe existing practices. Accordingly, 

ICE Clear Credit does not believe the 

amendments would affect the rights and 

obligations of CP’s or the costs of 

clearing, the ability of market 

participants to access clearing, or the 

market for clearing services generally. 

Therefore, ICE Clear Credit does not 

believe the proposed rule change 

imposes any burden on competition that 

is inappropriate in furtherance of the 

purposes of the Act. 

(C) Clearing Agency’s Statement on 

Comments on the Proposed Rule 

Change Received From Members, 

Participants or Others 

Written comments relating to the 

proposed rule change have not been 

solicited or received. ICC will notify the 

Commission of any written comments 

received by ICC. 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

Within 45 days of the date of 

publication of this notice in the Federal 

Register or within such longer period 

up to 90 days (i) as the Commission may 

designate if it finds such longer period 

to be appropriate and publishes its 

reasons for so finding or (ii) as to which 

the self-regulatory organization 

consents, the Commission will: 

(A) by order approve or disapprove 

such proposed rule change, or 

(B) institute proceedings to determine 

whether the proposed rule change 

should be 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-regulations/self-regulatoryorganization-rulemaking); or 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 176 / Wednesday, September 11, 2024 / Notices 73739 

30 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

• Send an email to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include file number SR– 

ICC–2024–005 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–ICC–2024–005. 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-regulations/self-regulatoryorganization-rulemaking). Copies of the 

submission, all subsequent 

amendments, all written statements 

with respect to the proposed rule 

change that are filed with the 

Commission, and all written 

communications relating to the 

proposed rule change between the 

Commission and any person, other than 

those that may be withheld from the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be 

available for website viewing and 

printing in the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549, on official 

business days between the hours of 10 

a.m. and 3 p.m. Copies of such filings 

will also be available for inspection and 

copying at the principal office of ICE 

Clear Credit and on ICE Clear Credit’s 

website at https://www.theice.com/ 

clear-credit/regulation. 

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–ICC–2024–005 and 

should be submitted on or before 

October 2, 2024. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.30

Vanessa A. Countryman, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2024–20460 Filed 9–10–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Investment Company Act Release No. 

35315; File No. 812–15498] 

Great Elm Capital Corp., et al. 

September 6, 2024. 

AGENCY: Securities and Exchange 

Commission (‘‘Commission’’ or ‘‘SEC’’). 

ACTION: Notice. 

Notice of application for an order 

under sections 17(d) and 57(i) of the 

Investment Company Act of 1940 (the 

‘‘Act’’) and rule 17d–1 under the Act to 

permit certain joint transactions 

otherwise prohibited by sections 17(d) 

and 57(a)(4) of the Act and rule 17d–1 

under the Act. 

Summary of Application: Applicants 

request an order to permit certain 

business development companies 

(‘‘BDCs’’) and closed-end management 

investment companies to co-invest in 

portfolio companies with each other and 

with certain affiliated investment 

entities. 

Applicants: Great Elm Capital Corp, 

Great Elm Capital Management, Inc., 

Great Elm Opportunities Fund I, L.P.— 

Series A, Great Elm Opportunities Fund 

I, L.P.—Series D, Great Elm Investments, 

LLC and Great Elm Credit Income Fund, 

LLC. 

Filing Dates: The application was 

filed on August 18, 2023 and amended 

on December 4, 2023, March 7, 2024 

and August 29, 2024. 

Hearing or Notification of Hearing: An 

order granting the requested relief will 

be issued unless the Commission orders 

a hearing. Interested persons may 

request a hearing on any application by 

emailing the SEC’s Secretary at 

Secretarys-Office@sec.gov and serving 

the Applicants with a copy of the 

request by email, if an email address is 

listed for the relevant Applicant below, 

or personally or by mail, if a physical 

address is listed for the relevant 

Applicant below. Hearing requests 

should be received by the Commission 

by 5:30 p.m. on October 1, 2024, and 

should be accompanied by proof of 

service on applicants, in the form of an 

affidavit or, for lawyers, a certificate of 

service. Pursuant to rule 0–5 under the 

Act, hearing requests should state the 

nature of the writer’s interest, any facts 

bearing upon the desirability of a 

hearing on the matter, the reason for the 

request, and the issues contested. 

Persons who wish to be notified of a 

hearing may request notification by 

emailing the Commission’s Secretary at 

Secretarys-Office@sec.gov. 

ADDRESSES: The Commission: 

Secretarys-Office@sec.gov. Applicants: 

Adam M. Kleinman, akleinman@

greatelmcap.com and Christopher 

Healey, christopher.healey@

davispolk.com. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Barbara T. Heussler, Senior Counsel, or 

Thomas Ahmadifar, Branch Chief, at 

(202) 551–6825 (Division of Investment 

Management, Chief Counsel’s Office). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For 

Applicants’ representations, legal 

analysis, and conditions, please refer to 

Applicants’ third amended and restated 

application, dated August 29, 2024, 

which may be obtained via the 

Commission’s website by searching for 

the file number at the top of this 

document, or for an Applicant using the 

Company name search field, on the 

SEC’s EDGAR system. The SEC’s 

EDGAR system may be searched at, 

http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/ 

legacy/companysearch.html. You may 

also call the SEC’s Public Reference 

Room at (202) 551–8090. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Investment Management, under delegated 

authority. 

Sherry R. Haywood, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2024–20574 Filed 9–10–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

[Disaster Declaration #20434 and #20435; 

MINNESOTA Disaster Number MN–20003] 

Presidential Declaration Amendment of 

a Major Disaster for Public Assistance 

Only for the State of Minnesota 

AGENCY: Small Business Administration. 

ACTION: Amendment 3. 

SUMMARY: This is an amendment of the 

Presidential declaration of a major 

disaster for Public Assistance Only for 

the State of Minnesota (FEMA–4797– 

DR), dated 06/28/2024. 

Incident: Severe Storms and Flooding. 

Incident Period: 06/16/2024 through 

07/04/2024. 

DATES: Issued on 08/27/2024. 

Physical Loan Application Deadline 

Date: 09/26/2024. 

Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan 

Application Deadline Date: 03/28/2025. 

ADDRESSES: Visit the MySBA Loan 

Portal at https://lending.sba.gov to 

apply for a disaster assistance loan. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Alan Escobar, Office of Disaster 

Recovery & Resilience, U.S. Small 

Business Administration, 409 3rd Street 

SW, Suite 6050, Washington, DC 20416, 

(202) 205–6734. 


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