Privacy Policy

Effective as of: July 16, 2024
Last Updated: July 2024

The Options Clearing Corporation (“OCC”) is committed to protecting your personal information. The purpose of this privacy notice (“Notice”) is to explain what personal information we collect, what we do with your personal information, and with whom we share it.

Personal Information means any information that can be used to identify you. This includes direct identifiers such as your name, contact details and indirect identifiers such as data that we may collect from the electronic device you use to access our site and services.

You can jump to particular topics by going to the headings below:

1.      Changes to the Privacy Policy
2.      Collection and Use of Personal Information
         A. What Personal Data We Collect
         B. What Types of Sensitive Personal Information We Collect
         C. What Types of Personal Information We Collect Automatically
3.      Use of Your Personal Information
4.     Security and Data Integrity
5.      Children
6.      Other Sites
7.      Your Rights
8.      Contact OCC

1. Changes to the Privacy Policy

OCC reserves the right to modify our privacy principles as business needs require us to do so. Any such modifications will be effective when published on our site. You should therefore periodically visit this page to review the current Notice. If we change this Notice, we will notify you of the changes by updating the effective date at the top of this Notice and, if required by applicable laws, by other means, such as email or notice within the site. Where the changes will have a fundamental impact on the nature of the processing or otherwise have a substantial impact on you, we will, as required by applicable laws, provide you with notice in advance.

2. Collection and Use of Personal Information

Depending on how you interact with OCC, we obtain personal information from you when you use or access an OCC website, create an account, interact with us in the context of a business opportunity (such as a prospective clearing member, through their employees, apply for pre-qualification or membership or when users, or their employees provide information for market research), attend an OCC-sponsored event, subscribe to an OCC communication, access educational information, and/or apply for employment with us.  In some circumstances, we may also collect personal information from third-party sources (e.g., we may conduct a background check for employment applicants and conduct diligence on membership applicants), such as service providers, our affiliates, and our business partners, and from publicly available sources.

  A. What Personal Data We Collect

 Based on your specific relationship with OCC, we may collect the following categories of personal information about you directly from you, on our own or from third parties in accordance with applicable law:

• When you use MyOCC™, we collect account registration information including email address, username, password, contact information, clearing membership number, account ID number, and information relating to the actions that you perform while logged into your account.  
• Communications data includes preferences in receiving communications from OCC.
• Contact details includes e-mail address, mailing address, business contact information, and telephone number.
• Identity and employment application data includes first and last name; employment, career, or professional history; educational background; passport or government issued identification; or similar identifiers; and any information you, or third parties, provide to us on an employment application or during the application process.
• Feedback and support information includes information provided to OCC in the context of feedback communications or requests for support, such as name and email address, as well as the content of the communication.
• Membership pre-qualification: includes primary business contact name, title, email address, and phone number, and resumés of staff responsible for P&S, positions reconciliation, and margin.
• Technical data: includes internet protocol (IP) address, login data, browser type and version, cookies, log files, time zone settings, browser plug-in types, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access OCC websites. 
• Usage data: includes statistical data, analytics, trends, and usage information about how you use our systems and services.

  B. What Types of Sensitive Personal Information We Collect

Depending on your relationship with OCC, we may collect sensitive personal information. OCC will only collect sensitive personal information as permitted by applicable law or, where necessary, with an individual’s consent.

• Identifiable information: includes MyOCC™ account log-in; criminal background check summary results for the purpose of evaluating individuals who can access OCC systems; social security number, passport, driver’s license, or other government issued identification number; and race/ethnic origin for the purposes of facilitating background checks. 
• Biometric Data: includes fingerprints we collect from employment applicants pursuant to our regulatory obligations.

Note that we do not use such information for any purposes that are not identified within the California Privacy Rights Act Section 1798.121. We do not “sell” or “share” sensitive personal information for purposes of cross-context behavioral advertising.

  C. What Types of Personal Information We Collect Automatically

OCC uses cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies to collect information about you automatically as you use our website. We collect the name of the domain and host from which you access the Internet; the Internet protocol (IP) address of the computer you are using; the browser software and operating system you are using; the date and time at which you access the OCC website; and the address of the Internet site from which you linked directly to the site.

The OCC website also uses "cookie" technology. A cookie is an element of data that a website sends to the browser of a user of the website. The OCC website's use of cookies is currently limited to facilitating use of the website, measuring activity on the website, monitoring network traffic for security purposes; all other information collected with cookies is anonymous. For more information on how we use cookies, please refer to our Cookie Policy.

3. Use of Your Personal Information

Depending on your engagement with OCC, we primarily use your personal information to provide our services and respond to your inquiries. We use your personal information in the following ways:

• If you choose to register for a seminar, register for an account, or ask to receive materials, we may require certain information from you, such as your name, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone number. We may also provide your name and address to third parties for purposes of sending you the information requested.
• Unless you specifically request us not to do so (by sending an e-mail to [email protected]), OCC may contact users that provide information for market research. If you choose to apply for an OCC employee position, we may request that you provide certain personal information in connection with evaluating applications for employment.
• If you communicate with us via e-mail, you may need to supply us with information relating to the purpose of your communication in order to enable us to provide you with a useful reply.
• You should note that e-mail is not necessarily secure from interception. The e-mail address or addresses identified in the OCC website do not have encryption capability. You should consider whether information of a particularly personal or sensitive nature is appropriate to include in an email to us.
• OCC might use information provided to us by a user of this website to further inform and educate users about U.S. listed options, or to improve the website or the information that OCC makes publicly available. However, if we were to do so, we would not identify the source of the information provided to us.
• MyOCC™ is a secure area of our website available only to registered users. MyOCC provides a private and secure web environment to access OCC information, data and authorized applications. Logging in to MyOCC will require a password and ID. OCC uses encryption technology so that data transmitted within MyOCC is secure. By registering to use MyOCC, Users may be asked to provide certain identifying information that is separate and apart from any voluntarily provided information described above ("Registration"). Examples of such information includes, but not be limited to, your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, social security number, and other personally identifying information that may be required to verify your identity and authenticate registered users. The information collected through Registration for MyOCC will only be used by OCC to administer access to MyOCC, and under no circumstances will such information be sold, transferred, or disclosed to third parties for any purpose. Additional information, including a Secured Web Site Access Agreement, may be obtained by contacting OCC directly at [email protected].
• We may share information with our corporate affiliates (e.g., parent company, sister companies, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under common control). If another company acquires, or plans to acquire, our company, our business, or our assets, we will also share information with that company, including at the negotiation stage.
• We may share your information with service providers. Among other things service providers may help us to administer our website, conduct surveys, provide technical support, process payments, and assist in the fulfillment of orders, including clearance and settlement activities.
• We may disclose information in response to subpoenas, warrants, or court orders, or in connection with any legal process, or to comply with relevant laws. We may also share your information in order to establish or exercise our rights, to defend against a legal claim, to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding possible illegal activities, suspected fraud, safety of person or property, or a violation of our policies, or to comply with your request for the shipment of products to or the provision of services by a third-party intermediary.
• We may disclose your information to other third parties not listed in this Notice when we have your consent or direction to do so.

To the extent we maintain and use personal information in a deidentified form, we will not attempt to reidentify the information, except for the purpose of determining whether our deidentification processes satisfy our legal obligations.

4. Security and Data Integrity

To protect the security of the OCC website and to ensure that the site remains operational, OCC employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage to the website. See OCC's User Agreement for additional information.

OCC protects the confidentiality of your personal information by restricting access to personal information to our employees and agents for business purposes only in accordance with this Privacy Policy. All employees and agents are required to safeguard such information. OCC also maintains physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to guard your personal information.

However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is fully secure. While we use reasonable efforts to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information. In the event that we are required by law to inform you of a breach of your personal information, we may notify you electronically, in writing, or by telephone, if permitted to do so by law.

We retain your personal information for only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Notice, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of the information, the purposes for which we obtained the information, and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, as well as applicable legal requirements.

5. Children

OCC services and sites are not intended for use by minors (persons under the age of 18). OCC does not knowingly collect or use any personal information from users under 18 years of age. No information should be submitted to this Web site by guests under 18 years of age.

6. Other Sites

Links to third party websites are provided from this site for your convenience. Should you leave this site via such a link, the content of any third-party website is not provided by OCC. OCC is not responsible for, nor has it developed or reviewed, the content of those sites. Third party websites may collect information from or about users. This Notice does not cover any such collection activities, and users should review the privacy policies of those third-party websites for such information.

7. Your Rights

Some jurisdictions give you the following rights with respect to your personal information, subject to applicable exceptions:

• Right to access. You may be entitled to request that we disclose to you the specific pieces of your personal information that we have collected about you in a portable and, to the extent technically feasible, readily usable format.
• Right to Know. You may have the right to confirm that we have collected personal information about you and know what personal information we have collected about you, including, as applicable, the categories of personal information we have collected, the sources from which we collected that personal information, the business or commercial purposes for which we collected, sold, and shared that personal information, the categories of personal information that we sold, shared, or disclosed to third parties for business purposes and the categories of third parties to whom we sold, shared or disclosed personal information.
• Right to Deletion. You may be entitled to request that we delete the personal information that we have collected from/about you. Subject to certain exceptions, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to honor your request, in compliance with applicable laws. Please note, however, that we may need or be required to keep such information, such as for our legitimate business purposes or to comply with applicable law.
• Online Tracking. We do not currently recognize the “Do Not Track” signal.
• Right to Limit the Processing of Sensitive Personal Information. Subject to certain exceptions, you may request that we limit our use of your sensitive personal information.
• Right to Correct. You may request that we correct in accurate personal information that we hold about you.

If you would like to exercise one of your rights or exercise rights on behalf of someone else, please contact us at [email protected] or 312-322-6200 and provide us with a description of the information we require to address your rights request, including your name, email address, phone number, and the nature of your request. We will not discriminate against individuals who exercise their privacy rights under applicable law.

If you disagree with our denial of a request, you may appeal our decision by contacting us with the subject line “Appeal.”

To process your requests to Know, Access, Delete, or Correct Personal Information, or to Limit the Processing of Sensitive Personal Information, we must be able to verify your identity to a reasonable degree of certainty. To verify your identity, we will ask you to provide additional identifiers based on your relationship with us. Before we process your request, we will match these data points with data points we currently maintain to verify your identity and your relationship with us.

In some circumstances, you may designate an authorized agent to submit requests to exercise certain privacy rights on your behalf. If you are an authorized agent submitting a request on behalf of an individual, you must attach a form signed by the individual indicating that you are able to act on another person’s behalf.

We do not “sell” or “share” personal information, as those terms are defined under applicable privacy laws.

The table below describes the categories of personal information that OCC collects and the categories of third parties to whom, in the preceding 12 months, we have disclosed personal information for business purposes. Please note, in addition to the recipients identified below, we may disclose any of the categories of personal information we collect with government entities, as may be needed to comply with law or prevent illegal activity. 

Category	Disclosure for business purposes
Identifiers.	Affiliates or subsidiaries Business partners Data analytics providers Internet service providers Operating systems and platforms Payment processors and financial institutions Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms Other Service Providers
Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)).	Affiliates or subsidiaries Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms Other Service Providers
Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law.	Affiliates or subsidiaries Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms Other Service Providers
Internet or other similar network activity.	Affiliates or subsidiaries Data analytics providers Internet service providers Operating systems and platforms Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms Other Service Providers
Professional or employment-related information.	Affiliates or subsidiaries Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms Other Service Providers
Biometric information	Affiliates or subsidiaries Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms
Financial information	Bank account number Credit card number Other financial information
Government issued identification	Affiliates or subsidiaries Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms Other Service Providers
Nonpublic education information (as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act).	Affiliates or subsidiaries Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms Other Service Providers
Inferences drawn from any of the information listed above.	Affiliates or subsidiaries Business partners Data analytics providers Internet service providers Operating systems and platforms Payment processors and financial institutions Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms Other service providers

Under California's "Shine the Light" law, California residents who provide personal information in obtaining products or services for personal, family or household use may be entitled to request and obtain from us once a calendar year information about the customer information we shared, if any, with other businesses for their own direct marketing uses. If applicable, this information would include the categories of customer information and the names and addresses of those businesses with which we shared customer information for the immediately prior calendar year (e.g., requests made in 2020 will receive information regarding 2022 sharing activities).

8. Contact OCC

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or feedback about this Notice, our privacy and information practices, or your use of our site, please contact OCC at [email protected] or + 1-312-322-6200.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Notice, OCC reserves the right to disclose user information, when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) our rights or property, other users of the OCC site, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. We may disclose your personal information without notifying you in response to a subpoena, when we believe in good faith that the law requires it or to respond to an emergency situation, or when otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.