Regulations last checked for updates: Jun 01, 2024

Title 17 - Commodity and Securities Exchanges last revised: May 23, 2024
§ 190.03 - Notices and proofs of claims.

(a) Notices-means of providing—(1) To the Commission. Unless instructed otherwise by the Commission, all mandatory or discretionary notices to be given to the Commission under this subpart shall be directed by electronic mail to [email protected]. For purposes of this subpart, notice to the Commission shall be deemed to be given only upon actual receipt.

(2) To Customers. The trustee, after consultation with the Commission, and unless otherwise instructed by the Commission, will establish and follow procedures reasonably designed for giving adequate notice to customers under this subpart and for receiving claims or other notices from customers. Such procedures should include, absent good cause otherwise, the use of a prominent website as well as communication to customers' electronic addresses that are available in the debtor's books and records.

(b) Notices to the Commission and designated self-regulatory organizations—(1) Of commencement of a proceeding. Each commodity broker that is a futures commission merchant and files a petition in bankruptcy shall as soon as practicable before, and in any event no later than, the time of such filing, notify the Commission and such commodity broker's designated self-regulatory organization of the anticipated or actual filing date, the court in which the proceeding will be or has been filed and, as soon as known, the docket number assigned to that proceeding. Each commodity broker that is a futures commission merchant and against which a bankruptcy petition is filed or with respect to which an application for a protective decree under SIPA is filed shall immediately upon the filing of such petition or application notify the Commission and such commodity broker's designated self-regulatory organization of the filing date, the court in which the proceeding has been filed, and, as soon as known, the docket number assigned to that proceeding.

(2) Of transfers under section 764(b) of the Bankruptcy Code. As soon as possible, the trustee of a commodity broker that is a futures commissions merchant, the relevant designated self-regulatory organization, or the applicable clearing organization must notify the Commission, and in the case of a futures commission merchant, the trustee shall also notify its designated self-regulatory organization and clearing organization(s), if such person intends to transfer or to apply to transfer open commodity contracts or customer property on behalf of the public customers of the debtor in accordance with section 764(b) of the Bankruptcy Code and § 190.07(c) or (d).

(c) Notices to customers—(1) Specifically identifiable property other than open commodity contracts. In any case in which an order for relief has been entered, the trustee must use all reasonable efforts to promptly notify, in accordance with paragraph (a)(2) of this section, any customer whose futures account, foreign futures account, or cleared swaps account includes specifically identifiable property, other than open commodity contracts, which has not been liquidated, that such specifically identifiable property may be liquidated commencing on and after the seventh day after the order for relief (or such other date as is specified by the trustee in the notice with the approval of the Commission or court) if the customer has not instructed the trustee in writing before the deadline specified in the notice to return such property pursuant to the terms for distribution of specifically identifiable property contained in § 190.09(d)(1). Such notice must describe the specifically identifiable property and specify the terms upon which that property may be returned, including if applicable and to the extent practicable any substitute customer property that must be provided by the customer.

(2) Open commodity contracts carried in hedging accounts. To the extent reasonably practicable under the circumstances of the case, and following consultation with the Commission, the trustee may treat open commodity contracts of public customers identified on the books and records of the debtor as held in a futures account, foreign futures account, or cleared swaps account designated as a hedging account in the debtor's records, as specifically identifiable property of such customer.

(i) If the trustee does not exercise such authority, such open commodity contracts do not constitute specifically identifiable property.

(ii) If the trustee exercises such authority:

(A) The trustee shall use reasonable efforts to promptly notify, in accordance with paragraph (a)(2) of this section, each relevant public customer of such determination.

(B)(1) Where, in the judgment of the trustee, the books and records of the debtor reveal a clear preference by a relevant public customer with respect to transfer or liquidation of open commodity contracts, the trustee shall endeavor, to the extent reasonably practicable, to comply with that preference.

(2) Where, in the judgment of the trustee, the books and records of the debtor do not reveal a clear preference by a relevant public customer with respect to transfer or liquidation of open commodity contracts, the trustee will request the customer to provide written instructions whether to transfer or liquidate such open commodity contracts. Such notice must specify the manner for providing such instructions and the deadline by which the customer must provide instructions.

(C) Such notice must also inform the customer that:

(1) (Where instructions have been requested pursuant to paragraph (c)(2)(ii)(B)(2) of this section), if the customer does not provide instructions in the prescribed manner and by the prescribed deadline, the customer's open commodity contracts will not be treated as specifically identifiable property under this part;

(2) Any transfer of the open commodity contracts is subject to the terms for distribution contained in § 190.09(d)(2);

(3) Absent compliance with any terms imposed by the trustee or the court, the trustee may liquidate the open commodity contracts; and

(4) Providing (or having provided) instructions may not prevent the open commodity contracts from being liquidated.

(3) Involuntary cases. Prior to entry of an order for relief, and upon leave of the court, a trustee appointed in an involuntary proceeding pursuant to section 303 of the Bankruptcy Code may notify customers, in accordance with paragraph (a)(2) of this section, of the commencement of such proceeding and may request customer instructions with respect to the return, liquidation, or transfer of specifically identifiable property.

(4) Notice of bankruptcy and request for proof of customer claim. The trustee shall promptly notify, in accordance with paragraph (a)(2) of this section, each customer that an order for relief has been entered and instruct each customer to file a proof of customer claim containing the information specified in paragraph (e) of this section. Such notice may be given separately from any notice provided in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section. The trustee shall cause the proof of customer claim form referred to in paragraph (e) of this section to set forth the bar date for its filing.

(d) Notice of court filings. The trustee shall promptly provide the Commission with copies of any complaint, motion, or petition filed in a commodity broker bankruptcy which concerns the disposition of customer property. Court filings shall be directed to the Commission addressed as provided in paragraph (a)(1) of this section.

(e) Proof of customer claim. The trustee shall request that customers provide, to the extent reasonably practicable, information sufficient to determine a customer's claim in accordance with the regulations contained in this part, including in the discretion of the trustee:

(1) The class of commodity contract account upon which each claim is based (i.e., futures account, foreign futures account, cleared swaps account, or delivery account (and, in the case of a delivery account, how much is based on cash delivery property and how much is based on the value of physical delivery property);

(2) Whether the claimant is a public customer or a non-public customer;

(3) The number of commodity contract accounts held by each claimant, and, for each such account:

(i) The account number;

(ii) The name in which the account is held;

(iii) The balance as of the last account statement for the account, and information regarding any activity in the account from the date of the last account statement up to and including the filing date that affected the balance of the account;

(iv) The capacity in which the account is held;

(v) Whether the account is a joint account and, if so, the amount of the claimant's percentage interest in that account and whether participants in the joint account are claiming jointly or separately;

(vi) Whether the account is a discretionary account;

(vii) Whether the account is an individual retirement account for which there is a custodian; and

(viii) Whether the account is a cross-margining account for futures and securities;

(4) A description of any accounts held by the claimant with the debtor that are not commodity contract accounts;

(5) A description of all claims against the debtor not based upon a commodity contract account of the claimant or an account listed in response to paragraph (e)(4) of this section;

(6) A description of all claims of the debtor against the claimant not included in the balance of a commodity contract account of the claimant;

(7) A description of and the value of any open positions, unliquidated securities, or other unliquidated property held by the debtor on behalf of the claimant, indicating the portion of such property, if any, which was included in the information provided in paragraph (e)(3) of this section, and identifying any such property which would be specifically identifiable property as defined in § 190.01;

(8) Whether the claimant holds positions in security futures products, and, if so, whether those positions are held in a futures account, a foreign futures account, or a securities account;

(9) Whether the claimant wishes to receive payment in kind, to the extent practicable, for any claim for unliquidated securities or other unliquidated property; and

(10) Copies of any documents which support the information contained in the proof of customer claim, including without limitation, customer confirmations, account statements, and statements of purchase or sale.

(f) Proof of claim form. A template customer proof of claim form which may (but is not required to) be used by the trustee is set forth in appendix A to this part.

(1) If there are no open commodity contracts that are being treated as specifically identifiable property (e.g., if the customer proof of claim form was distributed after the primary liquidation date), the trustee should modify the customer proof of claim form to delete references to open commodity contracts as specifically identifiable property.

(2) In the event the trustee determines that the debtor's books and records reflecting customer transactions are not reasonably reliable, or account statements are not available from which account balances as of the date of transfer or liquidation of customer property may be determined, the proof of claim form used by the trustee should be modified to take into account the particular facts and circumstances of the case.

§ 190.04 - Operation of the debtor's estate—customer property.

(a) Transfers—(1) All cases. The trustee for a commodity broker shall promptly use its best efforts to effect a transfer in accordance with § 190.07(c) and (d) no later than the seventh calendar day after the order for relief of the open commodity contracts and property held by the commodity broker for or on behalf of its public customers.

(2) Involuntary cases. A commodity broker against which an involuntary petition in bankruptcy is filed, or the trustee if a trustee has been appointed in such case, shall use its best efforts to effect a transfer in accordance with § 190.07(c) and (d) of all open commodity contracts and property held by the commodity broker for or on behalf of its public customers and such other property as the Commission in its discretion may authorize, on or before the seventh calendar day after the filing date, and immediately cease doing business; provided, however, that if the commodity broker demonstrates to the Commission within such period that it was in compliance with the segregation and financial requirements of this chapter on the filing date, and the Commission determines, in its sole discretion, that such transfer is neither appropriate nor in the public interest, the commodity broker may continue in business subject to applicable provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and of this chapter.

(b) Treatment of open commodity contracts—(1) Payments by the trustee. Prior to the primary liquidation date, the trustee may make payments of initial margin and variation settlement to a clearing organization, commodity broker, foreign clearing organization, or foreign futures intermediary, carrying the account of the debtor, pending the transfer, or liquidation of any open commodity contracts, whether or not such contracts are specifically identifiable property of a particular customer, provided, that:

(i) To the extent within the trustee's control, the trustee shall not make any payments on behalf of any commodity contract account on the books and records of the debtor that is in deficit; provided, however, that the provision in this paragraph (b)(1) shall not be construed to prevent a clearing organization, foreign clearing organization, futures commission merchant, or foreign futures intermediary carrying an account of the debtor from exercising its rights to the extent permitted under applicable law;

(ii) Any margin payments made by the trustee with respect to a specific customer account shall not exceed the funded balance for that account;

(iii) The trustee shall not make any payments on behalf of non-public customers of the debtor from funds that are segregated for the benefit of public customers;

(iv) If the trustee receives payments from a customer in response to a margin call, then to the extent within the trustee's control, the trustee must use such payments to make margin payments for the open commodity contract positions of such customer;

(v) The trustee may not use payments received from one public customer to meet the margin (or any other) obligations of any other customer; and

(vi) If funds segregated for the benefit of public customers in a particular account class exceed the aggregate net equity claims for all public customers in such account class, the trustee may use such excess funds to meet the margin obligations for any public customer in such account class whose account is under-margined (as described in paragraph (b)(4) of this section) but not in deficit, provided that the trustee issues a margin call to such customer and provided further that the trustee shall liquidate such customer's open commodity contracts if the customer fails to make the margin payment within a reasonable time as provided in paragraph (b)(4) of this section.

(2) Margin calls. The trustee (or, prior to appointment of the trustee, the debtor against which an involuntary petition was filed) may issue a margin call to any public customer whose commodity contract account contains open commodity contracts if such account is under-margined.

(3) Margin payments by the customer. The full amount of any margin payment by a customer in response to a margin call under paragraph (b)(2) of this section must be credited to the funded balance of the particular account for which it was made.

(4) Trustee obligation to liquidate certain open commodity contracts. The trustee shall, as soon as practicable under the circumstances, liquidate all open commodity contracts in any commodity contract account that is in deficit, or for which any mark-to-market calculation would result in a deficit, or for which the customer fails to meet a margin call made by the trustee within a reasonable time. Except as otherwise provided in this part, absent exigent circumstances, a reasonable time for meeting margin calls made by the trustee shall be deemed to be one hour, or such greater period not to exceed one business day, as the trustee may determine in its sole discretion.

(5) Partial liquidation of open commodity contracts by others. In the event that a clearing organization, foreign clearing organization, futures commission merchant, foreign futures intermediary, or other person carrying a commodity customer account for the debtor in the nature of an omnibus account has liquidated only a portion of open commodity contracts in such account, the trustee will exercise reasonable business judgment in assigning the liquidating transactions to the underlying commodity customer accounts carried by the debtor. Specifically, the trustee should endeavor to assign the contracts as follows: First, to liquidate open commodity contracts in a risk-reducing manner in any accounts that are in deficit; second, to liquidate open commodity contracts in a risk-reducing manner in any accounts that are undermargined; third, to liquidate open commodity contracts in a risk-reducing manner in any other accounts, and finally to liquidate any remaining open commodity contracts in any accounts. If more than one commodity contract account reflects open commodity contracts in a particular account class for which liquidating transactions have been executed, the trustee shall to the extent practicable allocate the liquidating transactions to such commodity contract accounts pro rata based on the number of open commodity contracts of such commodity contract accounts. For purposes of this section, the term “a risk-reducing manner” is measured by margin requirements set using the margin methodology and parameters followed by the derivatives clearing organization at which such contracts are cleared.

(c) Contracts moving into delivery position. After entry of the order for relief and subject to paragraph (a) of this section, which requires the trustee to attempt to make transfers to other commodity brokers permitted by § 190.07 and section 764(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, the trustee shall use its best efforts to liquidate any open commodity contract that settles upon expiration or exercise via the making or taking of delivery of a commodity:

(1) If such contract is a futures contract or a cleared swaps contract, before the earlier of the last trading day or the first day on which notice of intent to deliver may be tendered with respect thereto, or otherwise before the debtor or its customer incurs an obligation to make or take delivery of the commodity under such contract;

(2) If such contract is a long option on a commodity and has value, before the first date on which the contract could be automatically exercised or the last date on which the contract could be exercised if not subject to automatic exercise; or

(3) If such contract is a short option on a commodity that is in-the-money in favor of the long position holder, before the first date on which the long option position could be exercised.

(d) Liquidation or offset. After entry of the order for relief and subject to paragraph (a) of this section, which requires the trustee to attempt to make transfers to other commodity brokers permitted by § 190.07 and section 764(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, and except as otherwise set forth in this paragraph (d), the following commodity contracts and other property held by or for the account of a debtor must be liquidated in the market in accordance with paragraph (e)(1) of this section or liquidated via book entry in accordance with paragraph (e)(2) of this section by the trustee promptly and in an orderly manner:

(1) Open commodity contracts. All open commodity contracts, except for:

(i) Commodity contracts that are specifically identifiable property (if applicable) and are subject to customer instructions to transfer (in lieu of liquidating) as provided in § 190.03(c)(2), provided that the customer is in compliance with the terms of § 190.09(d)(2); and

(ii) Open commodity contract positions that are in a delivery position, which shall be treated in accordance with the provisions of § 190.06.

(2) Specifically identifiable property, other than open commodity contracts or physical delivery property. Specifically identifiable property, other than open commodity contracts or physical delivery property, to the extent that:

(i) The fair market value of such property is less than 75% of its fair market value on the date of entry of the order for relief;

(ii) Failure to liquidate the specifically identifiable property may result in a deficit balance in the applicable customer account; or

(iii) The trustee has not received instructions to return pursuant to § 190.03(c)(1), or has not returned such property upon the terms contained in § 190.09(d)(1).

(3) Letters of credit. The trustee may request that a customer deliver substitute customer property with respect to any letter of credit received, acquired, or held to margin, guarantee, secure, purchase, or sell a commodity contract, whether the letter of credit is held by the trustee on behalf of the debtor's estate or a derivatives clearing organization or a foreign intermediary or foreign clearing organization on a pass-through or other basis, including in cases where the letter of credit has expired since the date of the order for relief. The amount of the request may equal the full face amount of the letter of the credit or any portion thereof, to the extent required or may be required in the trustee's discretion to ensure pro rata treatment among customer claims within each account class, consistent with §§ 190.08 and 190.09.

(i) If a customer fails to provide substitute customer property within a reasonable time specified by the trustee, the trustee may, if the letter of credit has not expired, draw upon the full amount of the letter of credit or any portion thereof.

(ii) For any letter of credit referred to in this paragraph (d)(3), the trustee shall treat any portion that is not drawn upon (less the value of any substitute customer property delivered by the customer) as having been distributed to the customer for purposes of calculating entitlements to distribution or transfer. The expiration of the letter of credit on or at any time after the date of the order for relief shall not affect such calculation.

(iii) Any proceeds of a letter of credit drawn by the trustee, or substitute customer property posted by a customer, shall be considered customer property in the account class applicable to the original letter of credit.

(iv) The trustee shall, in exercising their discretion with regard to addressing letters of credit, including as to the timing and amount of a request for substitute customer property, endeavor to mitigate, to the extent practicable, the adverse effects upon customers that have posted letters of credit, in a manner that achieves pro rata treatment among customer claims.

(4) All other property. All other property, other than physical delivery property held for delivery in accordance with the provisions of § 190.06, which is not required to be transferred or returned pursuant to customer instructions and which has not been liquidated in accordance with paragraphs (d)(1) through (3) of this section.

(e) Liquidation of open commodity contracts—(1) By the trustee or a clearing organization in the market—(i) Debtor as a clearing member. For open commodity contracts cleared by the debtor as a member of a clearing organization, the trustee or clearing organization, as applicable, shall liquidate such open commodity contracts pursuant to the rules of the clearing organization, a designated contract market, or a swap execution facility, if and as applicable. Any such rules providing for liquidation other than on the open market shall be designed to achieve, to the extent feasible under market conditions at the time of liquidation, a process for liquidating open commodity contracts that results in competitive pricing. For open commodity contracts that are futures or options on futures that were established on or subject to the rules of a foreign board of trade and cleared by the debtor as a member of a foreign clearing organization, the trustee shall liquidate such open commodity contracts pursuant to the rules of the foreign clearing organization or foreign board of trade or, in the absence of such rules, in the manner the trustee determines appropriate.

(ii) Debtor not a clearing member. For open commodity contracts submitted by the debtor for clearing through one or more accounts established with a futures commission merchant (as defined in § 1.3 of this chapter) or foreign futures intermediary, the trustee shall use commercially reasonable efforts to liquidate the open commodity contracts to achieve competitive pricing, to the extent feasible under market conditions at the time of liquidation and subject to any rules or orders of the relevant clearing organization, foreign clearing organization, designated contract market, swap execution facility, or foreign board of trade governing the liquidation of open commodity contracts.

(2) By the trustee or a clearing organization via book entry offset. Upon application by the trustee or clearing organization, the Commission may permit open commodity contracts to be liquidated, or settlement on such contracts to be made, by book entry. Such book entry shall offset open commodity contracts, whether matched or not matched on the books of the commodity broker, using the settlement price for such commodity contracts as determined by the clearing organization in accordance with its rules. Such rules shall be designed to establish, to the extent feasible under market conditions at the time of liquidation, such settlement prices in a competitive manner.

(3) By a futures commission merchant or foreign futures intermediary. For open commodity contracts cleared by the debtor through one or more accounts established with a futures commission merchant or a foreign futures intermediary, such futures commission merchant or foreign futures intermediary may exercise any enforceable contractual rights it has to liquidate such commodity contracts, provided, that it shall use commercially reasonable efforts to liquidate the open commodity contracts to achieve competitive pricing, to the extent feasible under market conditions at the time of liquidation and subject to any rules or orders of the relevant clearing organization, foreign clearing organization, designated contract market, swap execution facility, or foreign board of trade governing its liquidation of such open commodity contracts. If a futures commission merchant or foreign futures intermediary fails to use commercially reasonable efforts to liquidate open commodity contracts to achieve competitive pricing in accordance with this paragraph (e)(3), the trustee may seek damages reflecting the difference between the price (or prices) at which the relevant commodity contracts would have been liquidated using commercially reasonable efforts to achieve competitive pricing and the price (or prices) at which the commodity contracts were liquidated, which shall be the sole remedy available to the trustee. In no event shall any such liquidation be voided.

(4) Liquidation only. (i) Nothing in this part shall be interpreted to permit the trustee to purchase or sell new commodity contracts for the debtor or its customers except to offset open commodity contracts or to transfer any transferable notice received by the debtor or the trustee under any commodity contract; provided, however, that the trustee may, in its discretion and with approval of the Commission, cover uncovered inventory or commodity contracts of the debtor which cannot be liquidated immediately because of price limits or other market conditions, or may take an offsetting position in a new month or at a strike price for which limits have not been reached.

(ii) Notwithstanding paragraph (e)(4)(i) of this section, the trustee may, with the written permission of the Commission, operate the business of the debtor in the ordinary course, including the purchase or sale of new commodity contracts on behalf of the customers of the debtor under appropriate circumstances, as determined by the Commission.

(f) Long option contracts. Subject to paragraphs (d) and (e) of this section, the trustee shall use its best efforts to assure that a commodity contract that is a long option contract with value does not expire worthless.

§ 190.05 - Operation of the debtor's estate—general.

(a) Compliance with the Act and regulations in this chapter. Except as specifically provided otherwise in this part, the trustee shall use reasonable efforts to comply with all of the provisions of the Act and of the regulations in this chapter as if it were the debtor.

(b) Computation of funded balance. The trustee shall use reasonable efforts to compute a funded balance for each customer account that contains open commodity contracts or other property as of the close of business each business day subsequent to the order for relief until the date all open commodity contracts and other property in such account have been transferred or liquidated, which shall be as accurate as reasonably practicable under the circumstances, including the reliability and availability of information.

(c) Records—(1) Maintenance. Except as otherwise ordered by the court or as permitted by the Commission, records required under this chapter to be maintained by the debtor, including records of the computations required by this part, shall be maintained by the trustee until such time as the debtor's case is closed.

(2) Accessibility. The records required to be maintained by paragraph (c)(1) of this section shall be available during business hours to the Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice. The trustee shall give the Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice access to all records of the debtor, including records required to be retained in accordance with § 1.31 of this chapter and all other records of the commodity broker, whether or not the Act or this chapter would require such records to be maintained by the commodity broker.

(d) Customer statements. The trustee shall use all reasonable efforts to continue to issue account statements with respect to any customer for whose account open commodity contracts or other property is held that has not been liquidated or transferred. With respect to such accounts, the trustee must also issue an account statement reflecting any liquidation or transfer of open commodity contracts or other property promptly after such liquidation or transfer.

(e) Other matters—(1) Disbursements. With the exception of transfers of customer property made in accordance with § 190.07, the trustee shall make no disbursements to customers except with approval of the court.

(2) Investment. The trustee shall promptly invest the proceeds from the liquidation of commodity contracts or specifically identifiable property, and may invest any other customer property, in obligations of the United States and obligations fully guaranteed as to principal and interest by the United States, provided that such obligations are maintained in a depository located in the United States, its territories or possessions.

(f) Residual interest. The trustee shall apply the residual interest provisions of § 1.11 of this chapter in a manner appropriate to the context of their responsibilities as a bankruptcy trustee pursuant subchapter IV of chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code and this part, and in light of the existence of a surplus or deficit in customer property available to pay customer claims.

§ 190.06 - Making and taking delivery under commodity contracts.

(a) Deliveries—(1) General. The provisions of this paragraph (a) apply to commodity contracts that settle upon expiration or exercise by making or taking delivery of physical delivery property, if such commodity contracts are in a delivery position on the filing date, or the trustee is unable to liquidate such commodity contracts in accordance with § 190.04(c) to prevent them from moving into a delivery position, i.e., before the debtor or its customer incurs bilateral contractual obligations to make or take delivery under such commodity contracts.

(2) Delivery made or taken on behalf of a customer outside of the administration of the debtor's estate. (i) The trustee shall use reasonable efforts to allow a customer to deliver physical delivery property that is held directly by the customer and not by the debtor (and thus not recorded in any commodity contract account of the customer) in settlement of a commodity contract, and to allow payment in exchange for such delivery, to occur outside the administration of the debtor's estate, when the rules of the exchange or other market listing the commodity contract, or the clearing organization or the foreign clearing organization clearing the commodity contract, as applicable, prescribe a process for delivery that allows the delivery to be fulfilled:

(A) In the normal course directly by the customer;

(B) By substitution of the customer for the commodity broker; or

(C) Through agreement of the buyer and seller to alternative delivery procedures.

(ii) Where a customer delivers physical delivery property in settlement of a commodity contract outside of the administration of the debtors' estate in accordance with paragraph (a)(2)(i) of this section, any property of such customer held at the debtor in connection with such contract must nonetheless be included in the net equity claim of that customer, and, as such, can only be distributed pro rata at the time of, and as part of, any distributions to customers made by the trustee.

(3) Delivery as part of administration of the debtor's estate. When the trustee determines that it is not practicable to effect delivery as provided in paragraph (a)(2) of this section:

(i) To facilitate the making or taking of delivery directly by a customer, the trustee may, as it determines reasonable under the circumstances of the case and consistent with the pro rata distribution of customer property by account class:

(A) When a customer is obligated to make delivery, return any physical delivery property to the customer that is held by the debtor for or on behalf of the customer under the terms set forth in § 190.09(d)(1)(ii), to allow the customer to deliver such property to fulfill its delivery obligation under the commodity contract; or

(B) When a customer is obligated to take delivery:

(1) Return any cash delivery property to the customer that is reflected in the customer's delivery account, provided that cash delivery property returned under this paragraph (a)(3)(i)(B)(1) shall not exceed the lesser of:

(i) The amount the customer is required to pay for delivery of the commodity; or

(ii) The customer's net funded balance for all of the customer's commodity contract accounts;

(2) Return cash, securities, or other property held in the customer's non-delivery commodity contract accounts, provided that property returned under this section shall not exceed the lesser of:

(i) The amount the customer is required to pay for delivery of the commodity; or

(ii) The net funded balance for all of the customer's commodity contract accounts reduced by any amount returned to the customer pursuant to paragraph (a)(3)(i)(B)(1) of this section, and provided further, however, that the trustee may distribute such property only to the extent that the customer's funded balance for each such account exceeds the minimum margin obligations for such account (as described in § 190.04(b)(2)); and

(C) Impose such conditions on the customer as it considers appropriate to assure that property returned to the customer is used to fulfill the customer's delivery obligations.

(ii) If the trustee does not return physical delivery property, cash delivery property, or other property in the form of cash or cash equivalents to the customer as provided in paragraph (a)(3)(i) of this section, subject to paragraph (a)(4) of this section:

(A) To the extent practical, the trustee shall make or take delivery of physical delivery property in the same manner as if no bankruptcy had occurred, and when making delivery, the party to which delivery is made must pay the full price required for taking such delivery; or

(B) When taking delivery of physical delivery property:

(1) The trustee shall pay for the delivery first using the customer's cash delivery property or other property, limited to the amounts set forth in paragraph (a)(3)(i)(B) of this section, along with any cash transferred by the customer to the trustee on or after the filing date for the purpose of paying for delivery.

(2) If the value of the cash or cash equivalents that may be used to pay for deliveries as described in paragraph (a)(3)(i)(B) of this section is less than the amount required to be paid for taking delivery, the trustee shall issue a payment call to the customer. The full amount of any payment made by the customer in response to a payment call must be credited to the funded balance of the particular account for which such payment is made.

(3) If the customer fails to meet a call for payment under paragraph (a)(3)(ii)(B)(2) of this section before payment is made for delivery, the trustee must convert any physical delivery property received on behalf of the customer to cash as promptly as possible.

(4) Deliveries in a securities account. If an open commodity contract held in a futures account, foreign futures account, or cleared swaps account requires delivery of a security upon expiration or exercise of such commodity contract, and delivery is not completed pursuant to paragraph (a)(2) or (a)(3)(i) of this section, the trustee may make or take delivery in a securities account in a manner consistent with paragraph (a)(3)(ii) of this section, provided, however, that the trustee may transfer property from the customer's commodity contract accounts to the securities account to fulfill the delivery obligation only to the extent that the customer's funded balance for such commodity contract account exceeds the customer's minimum margin obligations for such accounts (as described in § 190.04(b)(2)) and provided further that the customer is not under-margined or does not have a deficit balance in any other commodity contract accounts.

(5) Delivery made or taken on behalf of proprietary account. If delivery of physical delivery property is to be made or taken on behalf of the debtor's own account or the account of any non-public customer of the debtor, the trustee shall make or take delivery, as the case may be, on behalf of the debtor's estate, provided that if the trustee takes delivery of physical delivery property it must convert such property to cash as promptly as possible.

(b) Special account class provisions for delivery accounts. (1) Within the delivery account class, the trustee shall treat—

(i) Physical delivery property held in delivery accounts as of the filing date, and the proceeds of any such physical delivery property subsequently received, as part of the physical delivery account class; and

(ii) Cash delivery property in delivery accounts as of the filing date, along with any physical delivery property for which delivery is subsequently taken on behalf of a customer in accordance with paragraph (a)(3) of this section, as part of a separate cash delivery account class.

(2)(i) If the debtor holds any cash or cash equivalents in an account maintained at a bank, clearing organization, foreign clearing organization, or other person, under a name or in a manner that clearly indicates that the account holds property for the purpose of making payment for taking delivery, or receiving payment for making delivery, of a commodity under commodity contracts, such property shall (subject to § 190.09) be considered customer property—

(A) In the cash delivery account class if held for making payment for taking delivery; and

(B) In the physical delivery account class, if held as a result of receiving such payment for a making delivery after the filing date.

(ii) Any other property (excluding property segregated for the benefit of customer in the futures, foreign futures or cleared swaps account class) that is traceable as having been held or received for the purpose of making delivery, or as having been held or received as a result of taking delivery, of a commodity under commodity contracts, shall (subject to § 190.09) be considered customer property—

(A) In the cash delivery account class if received after the filing date in exchange for taking delivery; and

(B) Otherwise shall be considered customer property in the physical delivery account class.

§ 190.07 - Transfers.

(a) Transfer rules. No clearing organization or self-regulatory organization may adopt, maintain in effect, or enforce rules that:

(1) Are inconsistent with the provisions of this part;

(2) Interfere with the acceptance by its members of transfers of commodity contracts, and the property margining or securing such contracts, from futures commission merchants that are required to transfer accounts pursuant to § 1.17(a)(4) of this chapter; or

(3) Interfere with the acceptance by its members of transfers of commodity contracts, and the property margining or securing such contracts, from a futures commission merchant that is a debtor as defined in § 190.01, if such transfers have been approved by the Commission, provided, however, that this paragraph (a)(3) shall not—

(i) Limit the exercise of any contractual right of a clearing organization or other registered entity to liquidate or transfer open commodity contracts; or

(ii) Be interpreted to limit a clearing organization's ability adequately to manage risk.

(b) Requirements for transferees. (1) It is the duty of each transferee to assure that it will not accept a transfer that would cause the transferee to be in violation of the minimum financial requirements set forth in this chapter.

(2) Any transferee that accepts a transfer of open commodity contracts from the estate of the debtor—

(i) Accepts the transfer subject to any loss that may arise in the event the transferee cannot recover from the customer any deficit balance that may arise related to the transferred open commodity contracts.

(ii) If the commodity contracts were held for the account of a customer:

(A) Must keep such commodity contracts open at least one business day after their receipt, unless the customer for whom the transfer is made fails to respond within a reasonable time to a margin call for the difference between the margin transferred with such commodity contracts and the margin which such transferee would require with respect to a similar set of commodity contracts held for the account of a customer in the ordinary course of business; and

(B) May not collect commissions with respect to the transfer of such commodity contracts.

(3) A transferee may accept open commodity contracts and property, and open accounts on its records, for customers whose commodity contracts and property are transferred pursuant to this part prior to completing customer diligence, provided that account opening diligence as required by law (including the risk disclosures referred to in § 1.65(a)(3) of this chapter) is performed, and records and information required by law are obtained, as soon as practicable, but in any event within six months of the transfer, unless this time is extended for a particular account, transferee, or debtor by the Commission.

(4)(i) Any account agreements governing a transferred account (including an account that has been partially transferred) shall be deemed assigned to the transferee by operation of law and shall govern the transferee and customer's relationship until such time as the transferee and customer enter into a new agreement; provided, however, that any breach of such agreement by the debtor existing at or before the time of the transfer (including, but not limited to, any failure to segregate sufficient customer property) shall not constitute a default or breach of the agreement on the part of the transferee, or constitute a defense to the enforcement of the agreement by the transferee.

(ii) Paragraph (b)(4)(i) of this section shall not apply where the customer has a pre-existing account agreement with the transferee futures commission merchant. In such a case, the transferred account will be governed by that pre-existing account agreement.

(5) If open commodity contracts or any specifically identifiable property has been, or is to be, transferred in accordance with section 764(b) of the Bankruptcy Code and this section, customer instructions previously received by the trustee with respect to open commodity contracts or with respect to specifically identifiable property, shall be transmitted to the transferee of property, which shall comply therewith to the extent practicable.

(c) Eligibility for transfer under section 764(b) of the Bankruptcy Code—accounts eligible for transfer. All commodity contract accounts (including accounts with no open commodity contract positions) are eligible for transfer after the order for relief pursuant to section 764(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, except:

(1) The debtor's own account or the accounts of general partners of the debtor if the debtor is a partnership; and

(2) Accounts that are in deficit.

(d) Special rules for transfers under section 764(b) of the Bankruptcy Code—(1) Effecting transfer. The trustee for a commodity broker shall use its best efforts to effect a transfer to one or more other commodity brokers of all eligible commodity contract accounts, open commodity contracts and property held by the debtor for or on behalf of its customers, based on customer claims or record, no later than the seventh calendar day after the order for relief.

(2) Partial transfers; multiple transferees—(i) Of the customer estate. If all eligible commodity contract accounts held by a debtor cannot be transferred under this section, a partial transfer may nonetheless be made. The Commission will not disapprove such a transfer for the sole reason that it was a partial transfer. Commodity contract accounts may be transferred to one or more transferees, and, subject to paragraph (d)(4) of this section, may be transferred to different transferees by account class.

(ii) Of a customer's commodity contract account. If all of a customer's open commodity contracts and property cannot be transferred under this section, a partial transfer of contracts and property may be made so long as such transfer would not result in an increase in the amount of any customer's net equity claim. One, but not the only, means to effectuate a partial transfer is by liquidating a portion of the open commodity contracts held by a customer such that sufficient value is realized, or margin requirements are reduced to an extent sufficient, to permit the transfer of some or all of the remaining open commodity contracts and property. If any open commodity contract to be transferred in a partial transfer is part of a spread or straddle, to the extent practicable under the circumstances, each side of such spread or straddle must be transferred or none of the open commodity contracts comprising the spread or straddle may be transferred.

(3) Letters of credit. A letter of credit received, acquired, or held to margin, guarantee, secure, purchase, or sell a commodity contract may be transferred with an eligible commodity contract account if it is held by a derivatives clearing organization on a pass-through or other basis or is transferable by its terms, so long as the transfer will not result in a recovery which exceeds the amount to which the customer would be entitled under §§ 190.08 and 190.09. If the letter of credit cannot be transferred as provided for in the foregoing sentence, and the customer does not deliver substitute customer property to the trustee in accordance with § 190.04(d)(3), the trustee may draw upon a portion or all of the letter of credit, the proceeds of which shall be treated as customer property in the applicable account class.

(4) Physical delivery property. The trustee shall use reasonable efforts to prevent physical delivery property held for the purpose of making delivery on a commodity contract from being transferred separate and apart from the related commodity contract, or to a different transferee.

(5) No prejudice to other customers. No transfer shall be made under this part by the trustee if, after taking into account all customer property available for distribution to customers in the applicable account class at the time of the transfer, such transfer would result in insufficient remaining customer property to make an equivalent percentage distribution (including all previous transfers and distributions) to all customers in the applicable account class, based on—

(i) Customer claims of record; and

(ii) Estimates of other customer claims made in the trustee's reasonable discretion based on available information, in each case as of the calendar day immediately preceding transfer.

(e) Prohibition on avoidance of transfers under section 764(b) of the Bankruptcy Code—(1) Pre-relief transfers. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section, the following transfers are approved and may not be avoided under sections 544, 546, 547, 548, 549, or 724(a) of the Bankruptcy Code:

(i) The transfer of commodity contract accounts or customer property prior to the entry of the order for relief in compliance with § 1.17(a)(4) of this chapter unless such transfer is disapproved by the Commission;

(ii) The transfer, withdrawal, or settlement, prior to the order for relief at the request of a public customer, including a transfer, withdrawal, or settlement at the request of a public customer that is a commodity broker, of commodity contract accounts or customer property held from or for the account of such customer by or on behalf of the debtor unless:

(A) The customer acted in collusion with the debtor or its principals to obtain a greater share of customer property or the bankruptcy estate than that to which it would be entitled under this part; or

(B) The transfer is disapproved by the Commission;

(iii) The transfer prior to the order for relief by a clearing organization, or by a receiver that has been appointed for the futures commission merchant (FCM) that is now a debtor, of one or more accounts held for or on behalf of customers of the debtor, or of commodity contracts and other customer property held for or on behalf of customers of the debtor, provided that the transfer is not disapproved by the Commission.

(2) Post-relief transfers. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section, the following transfers are approved and may not be avoided under sections 544, 546, 547, 548, 549, or 724(a) of the Bankruptcy Code:

(i) The transfer of a commodity contract account or customer property eligible to be transferred under paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section made by the trustee or by any clearing organization on or before the seventh calendar day after the entry of the order for relief, as to which the Commission has not disapproved the transfer; or

(ii) The transfer of a commodity contract account or customer property at the direction of the Commission on or before the seventh calendar day after the order for relief, upon such terms and conditions as the Commission may deem appropriate and in the public interest.

(f) Commission action. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section (other than paragraphs (d)(2)(ii) and (d)(5) of this section), in appropriate cases and to protect the public interest, the Commission may:

(1) Prohibit the transfer of a particular set or sets of commodity contract accounts and customer property; or

(2) Permit transfers of a particular set or sets of commodity contract accounts and customer property that do not comply with the requirements of this section.

§ 190.08 - Calculation of funded net equity.

For purposes of this subpart, funded net equity shall be computed as follows:

(a) Funded claim. The funded net equity claim of a customer shall be equal to the aggregate of the funded balances of such customer's net equity claim for each account class.

(b) Net equity. Net equity means a customer's total customer claim of record against the estate of the debtor based on the customer property, including any commodity contracts, held by the debtor for or on behalf of such customer less any indebtedness of the customer to the debtor. Net equity shall be calculated as follows:

(1) Step 1-equity determination. (i) Determine the equity balance of each commodity contract account of a customer by computing, with respect to such account, the sum of:

(A) The ledger balance;

(B) The open trade balance; and

(C) The realizable market value, determined as of the close of the market on the last preceding market day, of any securities or other property held by or for the debtor from or for such account, plus accrued interest, if any.

(ii) For the purposes of this paragraph (b)(1), the ledger balance of a customer account shall be calculated by:

(A) Adding:

(1) Cash deposited to purchase, margin, guarantee, secure, or settle a commodity contract;

(2) Cash proceeds of liquidations of any securities or other property referred to in paragraph (b)(1)(i)(C) of this section;

(3) Gains realized on trades; and

(4) The face amount of any letter of credit received, acquired or held to margin, guarantee, secure, purchase or sell a commodity contract; and

(B) Subtracting from the result:

(1) Losses realized on trades;

(2) Disbursements to or on behalf of the customer (including, for these purposes, transfers made pursuant to §§ 190.04(a) and 190.07); and

(3) The normal costs attributable to the payment of commissions, brokerage, interest, taxes, storage, transaction fees, insurance, and other costs and charges lawfully incurred in connection with the purchase, sale, exercise, or liquidation of any commodity contract in such account.

(iii) For purposes of this paragraph (b)(1), the open trade balance of a customer's account shall be computed by subtracting the unrealized loss in value of the open commodity contracts held by or for such account from the unrealized gain in value of the open commodity contracts held by or for such account.

(iv) For purposes of this paragraph (b)(1), in calculating the ledger balance or open trade balance of any customer, exclude any security futures products, any gains or losses realized on trades in such products, any property received to margin, guarantee, or secure such products (including interest thereon or the proceeds thereof), to the extent any of the foregoing are held in a securities account, and any disbursements to or on behalf of such customer in connection with such products or such property held in a securities account.

(2) Step 2-customer determination (aggregation). Aggregate the credit and debit equity balances of all accounts of the same class held by a customer in the same capacity. Paragraphs (b)(2)(i) through (xii) of this section prescribe which accounts must be treated as being held in the same capacity and which accounts must be treated as being held in a separate capacity.

(i) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph (b)(2), all accounts that are maintained with a debtor in a person's name and that, under this paragraph (b)(2), are deemed to be held by that person in its individual capacity shall be deemed to be held in the same capacity.

(ii) An account maintained with a debtor by a guardian, custodian, or conservator for the benefit of a ward, or for the benefit of a minor under the Uniform Gift to Minors Act, shall be deemed to be held in a separate capacity from accounts held by such guardian, custodian or conservator in its individual capacity.

(iii) An account maintained with a debtor in the name of an executor or administrator of an estate in its capacity as such shall be deemed to be held in a separate capacity from accounts held by such executor or administrator in its individual capacity.

(iv) An account maintained with a debtor in the name of a decedent, in the name of the decedent's estate, or in the name of the executor or administrator of such estate in its capacity as such shall be deemed to be accounts held in the same capacity.

(v) An account maintained with a debtor by a trustee shall be deemed to be held in the individual capacity of the grantor of the trust unless the trust is created by a valid written instrument for a purpose other than avoidance of an offset under the regulations contained in this part. A trust account which is not deemed to be held in the individual capacity of its grantor under this paragraph (b)(2)(v) shall be deemed to be held in a separate capacity from accounts held in an individual capacity by the trustee, by the grantor or any successor in interest of the grantor, or by any trust beneficiary, and from accounts held by any other trust.

(vi) An account maintained with a debtor by a corporation, partnership, or unincorporated association shall be deemed to be held in a separate capacity from accounts held by the shareholders, partners or members of such corporation, partnership, or unincorporated association, if such entity was created for purposes other than avoidance of an offset under the regulations contained in this part.

(vii) A hedging account of a person shall be deemed to be held in the same capacity as a speculative account of such person.

(viii) Subject to paragraphs (b)(2)(ix) and (xiv) of this section, the futures accounts, foreign futures accounts, delivery accounts, and cleared swaps accounts of the same person shall not be deemed to be held in separate capacities: Provided, however, that such accounts may be aggregated only in accordance with paragraph (b)(3) of this section.

(ix) An omnibus customer account for public customers of a futures commission merchant maintained with a debtor shall be deemed to be held in a separate capacity from any omnibus customer account for non-public customers of such futures commission merchant and from any account maintained with the debtor on its own behalf or on behalf of any non-public customer.

(x) A joint account maintained with the debtor shall be deemed to be held in a separate capacity from any account held in an individual capacity by the participants in such account, from any account held in an individual capacity by a commodity pool operator or commodity trading advisor for such account, and from any other joint account; provided, however, that if such account is not transferred in accordance with §§ 190.04(a) and 190.07, it shall be deemed to be held in the same capacity as any other joint account held by identical participants and a participant's percentage interest therein shall be deemed to be held in the same capacity as any account held in an individual capacity by such participant.

(xi) An account maintained with a debtor in the name of a plan that is subject to the terms of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the regulations in 29 CFR chapter XXV, or similar state, Federal, or foreign laws or regulations applicable to retirement or pension plans, shall be deemed to be held in a separate capacity from an account held in an individual capacity by the plan administrator, any employer, employee, participant, or beneficiary with respect to such plan.

(xii) Except as otherwise provided in this section, an account maintained with a debtor by an agent or nominee for a principal or a beneficial owner shall be deemed to be an account held in the individual capacity of such principal or beneficial owner.

(xiii) With respect to the cleared swaps account class, each individual cleared swaps customer account within each cleared swap omnibus customer account referred to in paragraph (b)(2)(viii) of this section shall be deemed to be held in a separate capacity from each other such individual cleared swaps customer account, subject to the provisions of paragraphs (b)(2)(i) through (xi) of this section.

(xiv) Accounts held by a customer in separate capacities shall be deemed to be accounts of different customers. The burden of proving that an account is held in a separate capacity shall be upon the customer.

(3) Step 3-setoffs. (i) The net equity of one customer account may not be offset against the net equity of any other customer account.

(ii) Any obligation to the debtor owed by a customer which is not required to be included in computing the equity of that customer under paragraph (b)(1) of this section (defined as x), must be deducted from any obligation to the customer owed by the debtor which is not required to be included in computing the equity of that customer (defined as y). If the former amount (x) exceeds the latter (y), the excess (x-y) must be deducted from the equity balance of the customer obtained after performing the preceding calculations required by paragraph (b) of this section, provided, that if the customer owns more than one class of accounts with a positive equity balance, the excess (again, x-y) must be allocated and offset against each positive equity balance in the same proportion as that positive equity balance bears to the total of all positive equity balances of accounts of different classes held by such customer.

(iii) A negative equity balance obtained with respect to one customer account class must be set off against a positive equity balance in any other account class of such customer held in the same capacity, provided, that if a customer owns more than one class of accounts with a positive equity balance, such negative equity balance must be offset against each positive equity balance in the same proportion as that positive equity balance bears to the total of all positive equity balances in accounts of different classes held by such customer.

(iv) To the extent any indebtedness of the debtor to the customer which is not required to be included in computing the equity of such customer under paragraph (b)(1) of this section exceeds such indebtedness of the customer to the debtor, the customer claim therefor will constitute a general creditor claim rather than a customer property claim, and the net equity therefor shall be separately calculated.

(v) The rules pertaining to separate capacities and permitted setoffs contained in this section shall only be applied subsequent to the entry of an order for relief; prior to that date, the provisions of § 1.22 of this chapter and of sections 4d(a)(2) and 4d(f) of the Act (and, in each case, the regulations in part 1, 22, or 30 of this chapter that implement sections 4d(a)(2) and 4d(f)) shall govern what setoffs are permitted.

(4) Step 4-correction for distributions. The value on the date of transfer or distribution of any property transferred or distributed subsequent to the filing date and prior to the primary liquidation date with respect to each class of account held by a customer must be added to the equity obtained for that customer for accounts of that class after performing the steps contained in paragraphs (b)(1) through (3) of this section: Provided, however, that if all accounts for which there are customer claims of record and 100% of the equity pertaining thereto is transferred in accordance with § 190.07 and section 764(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, net equity shall be computed based solely upon those allowed customer claims, if any, filed subsequent to the order for relief which are not claims of record on the filing date.

(5) Step 5-correction for ongoing events. Compute any adjustments to the steps in paragraphs (b)(1) through (4) of this section required to correct misestimates or errors including, without limitation, corrections for ongoing events such as the liquidation of unliquidated claims or specifically identifiable property at a value different from the estimated value previously used in computing net equity.

(c) Calculation of funded balance. Funded balance means a customer's pro rata share of the customer estate with respect to each account class available for distribution to customers of the same customer class.

(1) Funded balance computation. The funded balance of any customer claim shall be computed (separately by account class and customer class) by:

(i) Multiplying the ratio of the amount of the net equity claim of such customer (defined as x) less the amounts referred to in paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section of such customer for any account class (defined as y) divided by the sum of the net equity claims of all customers for accounts of that class (defined as p) less the amounts referred to in paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section of all customers for accounts of that class (defined as q) (thus, ((x-y)/(p-q)) by the sum of:

(A) The value of letters of credit received, acquired, or held to margin, guarantee, secure, purchase, or sell a commodity contract relating to all customer accounts of the same class;

(B) The value of the money, securities, or other property segregated on behalf of all customer accounts of the same class less the amounts referred to in paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section;

(C) The value of any money, securities, or other property which must be allocated under § 190.09 to all customer accounts of the same class; and

(D) The amount of any add-back required under paragraph (b)(4) of this section; and

(ii) Then adding 100% of—

(A) Any margin payment made between the entry of the order for relief (or, in an involuntary case, the date on which the petition for bankruptcy is filed) and the primary liquidation date; provided, however, that if margin is posted to substitute for a letter of credit, such margin does not increase the funded balance; and

(B) For cash delivery property, any cash transferred to the trustee on or after the filing date for the purpose of paying for delivery.

(2) Corrections to funded balance. The funded balance must be adjusted to correct for ongoing events including, without limitation:

(i) Added claimants;

(ii) Disallowed claims;

(iii) Liquidation of unliquidated claims at a value other than their estimated value; and

(iv) Recovery of property.

(d) Valuation. In computing net equity, commodity contracts and other property held by or for a commodity broker must be valued as provided in this paragraph (d).

(1) Commodity contracts—(i) Open contracts. Unless otherwise specified in this paragraph (d), the value of an open commodity contract shall be equal to the settlement price as calculated by the clearing organization pursuant to its rules; provided, however, that if an open commodity contract is transferred to another commodity broker, its value on the debtor's books and records shall be determined as of the end of the last settlement cycle on the day preceding such transfer.

(ii) Liquidated contracts. Except as specified in paragraphs (d)(1)(ii)(A) and (B) of this section, the value of a commodity contract liquidated on the open market shall equal the actual value realized on liquidation of the commodity contract.

(A) Weighted average. If identical commodity contracts are liquidated within a 24-hour period or business day (or such other period as the bankruptcy court may determine is appropriate) as part of a general liquidation of commodity contracts, but cannot be liquidated at the same price, the trustee may use the weighted average of the liquidation prices in computing the net equity of each customer for which the debtor held such commodity contracts.

(B) Bulk liquidation. The value of a commodity contract liquidated as part of a bulk auction, taken into inventory or under management by a clearing organization, or similarly liquidated outside of the open market shall be equal to the settlement price calculated by the clearing organization as of the end of the settlement cycle during which the commodity contract was liquidated.

(2) Securities. The value of a listed security shall be equal to the closing price for such security on the exchange upon which it is traded. The value of all securities not traded on an exchange shall be equal in the case of a long position, to the average of the bid prices for long positions, and in the case of a short position, to the average of the asking prices for the short positions. If liquidated, the value of such security shall be equal to the actual value realized on liquidation of the security; provided, however, that if identical securities are liquidated within a 24-hour period or business day (or such other period as the bankruptcy court may determine is appropriate) as part of a general liquidation of securities, but cannot be liquidated at the same price, the trustee may use the weighted average of the liquidation prices in computing the net equity of each customer for which the debtor held such securities. Securities which are not publicly traded shall be valued by the trustee pursuant to paragraph (d)(5) of this section.

(3) Commodities held in inventory. Commodities held in inventory, as collateral or otherwise, shall be valued at their fair market value. If such fair market value is not readily ascertainable based upon public sources of prices, the trustee shall value such commodities pursuant to paragraph (d)(5) of this section.

(4) Letters of credit. The value of any letter of credit received, acquired or held to margin, guarantee, secure, purchase, or sell a commodity contract shall be its face amount, less the amount, if any, drawn and outstanding, provided that, if the trustee makes a determination in good faith that a draw on a letter of credit is unlikely to be honored on either a temporary or a permanent basis, the trustee shall value the letter of credit pursuant to paragraph (d)(5) of this section.

(5) All other property. Subject to the other provisions of this paragraph (d), all other property shall be valued by the trustee using such professional assistance as the trustee deems necessary in its sole discretion under the circumstances; provided, however, that if such property is sold, its value for purposes of the calculations required by this part shall be equal to the actual value realized on the sale of such property; and, provided further, that the sale shall be made in compliance with all applicable statutes, rules, and orders of any court or governmental entity with jurisdiction there over.

§ 190.09 - Allocation of property and allowance of claims.

The property of the debtor's estate must be allocated among account classes and between customer classes as provided in this section. (Property connected with certain cross-margining arrangements is subject to the provisions of framework 1 in appendix B to this part.) The property so allocated will constitute a separate estate of the customer class and the account class to which it is allocated, and will be designated by reference to such customer class and account class.

(a) Scope of customer property. (1) Customer property includes the following:

(i) All cash, securities, or other property or the proceeds of such cash, securities, or other property received, acquired, or held by or for the account of the debtor, from or for the account of a customer, including a non-public customer, which is:

(A) Property received, acquired, or held to margin, guarantee, secure, purchase or sell a commodity contract;

(B) Open commodity contracts;

(C) Physical delivery property as that term is defined in paragraphs (1) through (3) in the definition of that term in § 190.01;

(D) Cash delivery property, or other cash, securities, or other property received by the debtor as payment for a commodity to be delivered to fulfill a commodity contract from or for the commodity customer account of a customer;

(E) Profits or contractual rights accruing to a customer as the result of a commodity contract;

(F) Letters of credit, including any proceeds of a letter of credit drawn by the trustee, or substitute customer property posted by the customer, pursuant to § 190.04(d)(3);

(G) Securities held in a portfolio margining account carried as a futures account or a cleared swaps customer account; or

(H) Property hypothecated under § 1.30 of this chapter to the extent that the value of such property exceeds the proceeds of any loan of margin made with respect thereto; and

(ii) All cash, securities, or other property which:

(A) Is segregated for customers on the filing date;

(B) Is a security owned by the debtor to the extent there are customer claims for securities of the same class and series of an issuer;

(C) Is specifically identifiable to a customer;

(D) Was property of a type described in paragraph (a)(1)(i)(A) of this section that is subsequently recovered by the avoidance powers of the trustee or is otherwise recovered by the trustee on any other claim or basis;

(E) Represents recovery of any debit balance, margin deficit, or other claim of the debtor against a customer;

(F) Was unlawfully converted but is part of the debtor's estate;

(G) Constitutes current assets of the debtor (as of the date of the order for relief) within the meaning of § 1.17(c)(2) of this chapter, including the debtor's trading or operating accounts and commodities of the debtor held in inventory, in the greater of—

(1) The amount that the debtor is obligated to set aside as its targeted residual interest amount pursuant to § 1.11 of this chapter and the debtor's residual interest policies adopted thereunder, with respect to each of the futures account class, the foreign futures account class, and the cleared swaps account class; or

(2) The debtor's obligations to cover debit balances or under-margined amounts as provided in §§ 1.20, 1.22, 22.2, and 30.7 of this chapter;

(H) Is other property of the debtor that any applicable law, rule, regulation, or order requires to be set aside for the benefit of customers;

(I) Is property of the debtor's estate recovered by the Commission in any proceeding brought against the principals, agents, or employees of the debtor;

(J) Is proceeds from the investment of customer property by the trustee pending final distribution;

(K) Is a payment from an insurer to the trustee arising from or related to a claim related to the conversion or misuse of customer property; or

(L) Is cash, securities, or other property of the debtor's estate, including the debtor's trading or operating accounts and commodities of the debtor held in inventory, but only to the extent that the property enumerated in paragraphs (a)(1)(i)(F) and (a)(1)(ii)(A) through (K) of this section is insufficient to satisfy in full all claims of public customers. Such property includes “customer property,” as defined in section 16(4) of SIPA, 15 U.S.C. 78lll(4), that remains after allocation in accordance with section 8(c)(1)(A)-(D) of SIPA, 15 U.S.C. 78fff-2(c)(1)(A)-(D) and that is allocated to the debtor's general estate in accordance with section 8(c)(1) of SIPA, 15 U.S.C. 78fff-2(c)(1).

(2) Customer property will not include:

(i) Claims against the debtor for damages for any wrongdoing of the debtor, including claims for misrepresentation or fraud, or for any violation of the Act or of the regulations in this chapter;

(ii) Other claims for property which are not based upon property received, acquired, or held by or for the account of the debtor, from or for the account of the customer;

(iii) Forward contracts (unless such contracts are cleared by a clearing organization or, in the case of forward contracts treated as foreign futures, a foreign clearing organization);

(iv) Physical delivery property that is not held by the debtor, and is delivered or received by a customer in accordance with § 190.06(a)(2) or § 190.16(a) to fulfill the customer's delivery obligation under a commodity contract;

(v) Property deposited by a customer with a commodity broker after the entry of an order for relief which is not necessary to meet the margin requirements applicable to the accounts of such customer;

(vi) Property hypothecated pursuant to § 1.30 of this chapter to the extent of the loan of margin with respect thereto;

(vii) Money, securities, or property held to margin, guarantee or secure security futures products, or accruing as a result of such products, if held in a securities account; and

(viii) Money, securities, or property held in a securities account to fulfill delivery, under a commodity contract from or for the account of a customer, as described in § 190.06(b)(2).

(3) Nothing contained in this section, including, but not limited to, the satisfaction of customer claims by operation of this section, shall prevent a trustee from asserting claims against any person to recover the shortfall of property enumerated in paragraphs (a)(1)(i)(F) and (a)(1)(ii)(A) through (L) of this section.

(b) Allocation of customer property between customer classes. No customer property may be allocated to pay non-public customer claims until all public customer claims have been satisfied in full. Any property segregated on behalf of or attributable to non-public customers must be treated initially as part of the public customer estate and allocated in accordance with paragraph (c)(2) of this section.

(c) Allocation of customer property among account classes—(1) Property identified to an account class—(i) Segregated property. Subject to paragraph (b) of this section, property held by or for the account of a customer, which is segregated on behalf of a specific account class, or readily traceable on the filing date to customers of such account class, or recovered by the trustee on behalf of or for the benefit of an account class, must be allocated to the customer estate of the account class for which it is segregated, to which it is readily traceable, or for which it is recovered.

(ii) Excess property. If, after payment in full of all allowed customer claims in a particular account class, any property remains allocated to that account class, such excess shall be allocated in accordance with paragraph (c)(2) of this section.

(2) All other property. Money, securities, and property received from or for the account of customers which cannot be allocated in accordance with paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section, must be allocated in the following order:

(i) To the estate of the account class for which, after the allocation required in paragraph (c)(1) of this section, the percentage of each public customer net equity claim which is funded is the lowest, until the funded percentage of net equity claims of such class equals the percentage of each public customer's net equity claim which is funded for the account class with the next lowest percentage of the funded claims; and then

(ii) To the estate of the two account classes referred to in paragraph (c)(2)(i) of this section so that the percentage of the net equity claims which are funded for each class remains equal until the percentage of each public customer net equity claim which is funded equals the percentage of each public customer net equity claim which is funded for the account class with the next lowest percentage of funded claims, and so forth, until the percentage of each public customer net equity claim which is funded is equal for all classes of accounts; and then,

(iii) Among account classes in the same proportion as the public customer net equity claims for each such account class bears to the total of public customer net equity claims of all account classes until the public customer claims of each account class are paid in full; and, thereafter,

(iv) To the non-public customer estate for each account class in the same order as is prescribed in paragraphs (c)(2)(i) through (iii) of this section for the allocation of the customer estate among account classes.

(d) Distribution of customer property—(1) Return or transfer of specifically identifiable property. Specifically identifiable property not required to be liquidated under § 190.04(d)(2) may be returned or transferred on behalf of the customer to which it is identified:

(i) If it is margining an open commodity contract, only if substitute customer property is first deposited with the trustee with a value equal to the greater of the full fair market value of such property on the return date or the balance due on the return date on any loan by the debtor to the customer for which such property constitutes security; or

(ii) If it is not margining an open commodity contract, at the option of the customer, either pursuant to the terms of paragraph (d)(1)(i) of this section, or pursuant to the following terms: Such customer first deposits substitute customer property with the trustee with a value equal to the amount by which the greater of the value of the specifically identifiable property to be transferred or returned on the date of such transfer or return or the balance due on the return date on any loan by the debtor to the customer for which such property constitutes security, together with any other disbursements made, or to be made, to such customer, plus a reasonable reserve in the trustee's sole discretion, exceeds the estimated aggregate of the funded balances for each class of account of such customer less the value on the date of its transfer or return of any property transferred or returned prior to the primary liquidation date with respect to the customer's net equity claim for such account; provided, however, that adequate security to assure the recovery of any overpayments by the trustee is provided to the debtor's estate by the customer.

(2) Transfers of specifically identifiable commodity contracts under section 766 of the Bankruptcy Code. Any open commodity contract that is specifically identifiable property and which is not required to be liquidated under § 190.04(d), and which is not otherwise liquidated, may be transferred on behalf of a public customer, provided, however, that such customer must first deposit substitute customer property with the trustee with a value equal to the amount by which the equity to be transferred to margin such contract together with any other transfers or returns of specifically identifiable property or disbursements made, or to be made, to such customer, plus a reasonable reserve in the trustee's sole discretion, exceeds the estimated aggregate of the funded balances for each class of account of such customer less the value on the date of its transfer or return of any property transferred or returned prior to the primary liquidation date with respect to the customer's net equity claim for such account; and, provided further, that adequate security to assure the recovery of any overpayments by the trustee is provided to the debtor's estate by the customer.

(3) Distribution in kind of specifically identifiable securities. If any securities of a customer are specifically identifiable property as defined in paragraph (1)(i)(A) of the definition of that term in § 190.01 of this chapter, but the customer has no open commodity contracts, the customer may request that the trustee purchase or otherwise obtain the largest whole number of like-kind securities (i.e., securities of the same class and series of an issuer), with a fair market value (inclusive of transaction costs) which does not exceed that portion of the funded balance of such customer's allowed net equity claim that constitutes a claim for securities, if like-kind securities can be purchased in a fair and orderly manner.

(4) Proof of customer claim. No distribution shall be made pursuant to paragraphs (d)(1) and (3) of this section prior to receipt of a completed proof of customer claim as described in § 190.03(e) or (f).

(5) No differential distributions. No further disbursements may be made to customers with respect to a particular account class for whom transfers have been made pursuant to § 190.07 and paragraph (d)(2) of this section, until a percentage of each net equity claim equivalent to the percentage distributed to such customers is distributed to all public customers in such account class. Partial distributions, other than the transfers referred to in § 190.07 and paragraph (d)(2) of this section, with respect to a particular account class made prior to the final net equity determination date must be made pursuant to a preliminary plan of distribution approved by the court, upon notice to the parties and to all customers, which plan requires adequate security to the debtor's estate to assure the recovery of any overpayments by the trustee and distributes an equal percentage of net equity to all public customers in such account class.

§ 190.10 - Current records during business as usual.

A person that is a futures commission merchant is required to maintain current records relating to its customers' accounts, including copies of all account agreements and related account documentation, and “know your customer” materials, pursuant to §§ 1.31, 1.35, 1.36, and 1.37 of this chapter, which may be provided to another futures commission merchant to facilitate the transfer of open commodity contracts or other customer property held by such person for or on behalf of its customers to the other futures commission merchant, in the event an order for relief is entered with respect to such person.

source: 86 FR 19421, Apr. 13, 2021, unless otherwise noted.
cite as: 17 CFR 190.04