Public Statements & Remarks

CFTC Statement on ION and the Impact to the Derivatives Markets

February 02, 2023

Washington, D.C.—Staff of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Divisions of Clearing and Risk, Market Participants, Data, and Market Oversight today released the following statement on the cyber-related incident at ION Cleared Derivatives (a subsidiary of ION Markets), a third-party service provider of cleared derivatives order management, order execution, trading, and trade processing:

“This week, CFTC staff alongside fellow regulators, market participants, and impacted parties have worked to understand the issues surrounding the cyber incident and to help ensure the CFTC regulated derivatives markets were not compromised.

“The ongoing issue is impacting some clearing members’ ability to provide the CFTC with timely and accurate data.  As this incident unfolded, it became clear that the submission of data that is required by registrants will be delayed until the trading issues are resolved. As a result, the weekly Commitments of Traders report that is produced by CFTC staff will be delayed until all trades can be reported. A report will be published upon receipt and validation of data from those firms.

“Further, Commission staff recognizes that certain reporting firms affected by the incident at ION do not have enough information at this time to fully prepare the daily large trader reports required under Part 17 of the Commission’s regulations.  Each affected reporting firm should use best estimates in preparing those reports, working with Commission staff, to ensure timely compliance.  A reporting firm should also file revised reports once the reporting firm's systems are operational.  Commission staff will consider any necessary further action as appropriate.”

-CFTC-