CFTC Staff Grants Relief for Clearinghouses Using Trust Companies

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Clearing and Risk announced on November 5, 2026 that it would not recommend enforcement action against a derivatives clearing organization (DCO) for using a trust company to conduct daily settlements with clearing members. The relief is conditional: the DCO must treat the trust company as if it were a settlement bank for compliance with Regulations 39.14(c) and (d).

Nodal Clear’s October 29, 2026 request sought the position for itself and other registered DCOs. Nodal Clear is a registered DCO and the clearinghouse for Nodal Exchange and Coinbase Derivatives, both CFTC-designated contract markets. It is wholly owned by Nodal Exchange, which is wholly owned by European Energy Exchange AG. Nodal Clear has also elected to comply with Subpart C requirements applicable to DCOs designated systemically important by the Financial Stability Oversight Council.

The resulting Staff Letter 26-30 applies to any DCO meeting its condition, not only Nodal Clear. It is an enforcement position rather than a revision of Regulation 39.14.

Customer-Fund and Settlement Rules Use Different Terms

Section 4d of the Commodity Exchange Act and Parts 1 and 22 of CFTC regulations require customer funds to be held with a bank or trust company. Regulation 1.20 implements protections for futures customers, while Part 22 establishes corresponding protections for cleared-swaps customers. Regulation 39.14, which governs DCO settlement procedures and the related handling of clearing-member and customer funds, defines a settlement bank, in relevant part, as a bank and contains no references to trust companies.

Settlement must occur with each clearing member at least once each business day. A DCO must also have the authority and operational capacity to settle intraday, either routinely, when its specified thresholds are breached, or during extreme market volatility. Nodal argued that a trust company already permitted to hold customer funds should also be acceptable for these settlement functions, noting that Regulation 39.14 had not been substantively revised since its adoption in 2011.

Existing Settlement Controls Carry Over

The no-action condition keeps the existing control framework attached to the institution used for settlement. Regulation 39.14(c) requires documented settlement-bank criteria covering capitalization, creditworthiness, access to liquidity, operational reliability, and regulation or supervision. The DCO must monitor each approved settlement bank on an ongoing basis and monitor, and if necessary mitigate, its exposure to those banks.

Regulation 39.14(d) addresses settlement finality. Legal agreements must make settlement-fund transfers irrevocable and unconditional no later than when the DCO’s accounts are debited or credited, although they may allow error correction. They must state clearly when transfers will occur, and the DCO must routinely confirm that its settlement banks make transfers as required.

Nodal argued that these requirements fall on DCOs rather than directly on settlement banks, and that existing evaluation and monitoring procedures can be applied to trust companies. The Division’s condition preserves that treatment. A clearinghouse can use a trust company without prompting a staff enforcement recommendation under the letter, but the arrangement is not an exemption from selection, monitoring or settlement-finality obligations.

Stablecoin Collateral Is the Stated Use Case

Nodal Clear’s request says the clearinghouse is preparing to accept stablecoins as initial margin collateral and describes state-regulated trust companies as among the leading custodians of digital assets. Its stated rationale is that trust-company settlement would integrate digital assets into existing daily collateral-movement workflows, facilitating their acceptance as margin. The request does not announce that stablecoin acceptance has already begun.

Nodal Clear’s request also characterizes trust companies as subject to comprehensive state oversight, with the New York Department of Financial Services applying the same scrutiny to banks and trust companies and both chartered under the same provisions of state banking law. Trust companies generally cannot offer consumer deposit accounts or make loans and can therefore have different capital requirements. Those differences leave the DCO’s own evaluation criteria as a central safeguard.

The position represents only the Division’s views and is not binding on the Commission. It concerns enforcement action only and is not a legal conclusion about the applicability of the Commodity Exchange Act or CFTC regulations. Other applicable requirements remain in force. Different, changed or omitted material facts could produce a different conclusion or void the letter, and the Division retains discretion to modify, suspend, terminate or further restrict it.

The practical effect is a wider choice of settlement institution without a waiver of the control framework. For Nodal Clear, the letter supports the operational preparation for stablecoin margin; for any DCO relying on it, the clearinghouse must still apply the same selection, monitoring and finality controls required for a settlement bank.

Esteban Rojas is an AI-generated markets research agent at Securities.io, covering Market Data & Post-Trade Technology and the public companies, market infrastructure and investable technologies shaping that field.

Esteban Rojas monitors exchange technology, market data, clearing, settlement, T+1/T+0 transitions, OMS/EMS platforms, surveillance and post-trade automation outside tokenized-securities-only systems. Coverage follows a infrastructure-first, precise, latency-aware perspective, prioritizing first-party announcements, company fundamentals, competitive positioning and developments with material relevance for investors.

Articles authored by Esteban Rojas are AI-generated and reviewed by Securities.io's editorial team to ensure factual accuracy, source quality and responsible coverage. Content is provided for educational purposes and does not constitute investment advice.