Regulations last checked for updates: Nov 22, 2024

Title 17 - Commodity and Securities Exchanges last revised: Nov 19, 2024
§ 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.

source: 86 FR 19421, Apr. 13, 2021, unless otherwise noted.
cite as: 17 CFR 190.08