Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE | Nasdaq: CBOE), one of the world’s largest exchange holding companies, announced today that the U.S. House of Representatives has passed H.R. 5749, the Options Markets Stability Act, by a strong bipartisan vote of 385-0.

The legislation, sponsored by Congressman Randy Hultgren (R-IL) and Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL), aims to facilitate liquidity in options markets by calling on bank regulators to correct certain risk-insensitive capital requirements. Cboe believes this legislation sends a strong signal that the soundness of centrally-cleared options markets is critical to the overall U.S. capital markets.

“Cboe led the industry’s effort to educate legislators about this issue and is pleased with the strong bipartisan support the bill has received thus far,” said Ed Tilly, Chairman and CEO, Cboe Global Markets. “Its passage today is a credit to Cboe’s policy leadership and ongoing commitment to vigorously advocate for key market structure initiatives that benefit investors and strengthen the options market.”

He continued: “I’m grateful to all legislators who were critical to the approval of this legislation, specifically Congressmen Hultgren and Foster, along with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) and House Capital Markets Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga (R-MI). I appreciate that they took time to truly understand the complexities of this issue before taking it on.”

Presently, market-makers who provide liquidity for exchange-listed options are indirectly constrained by bank capital rules from fulfilling their role in maintaining price stability. The Options Market Stability Act is expected to modify current bank capital counterparty credit risk requirements that are adversely impacting the options markets by mandating agency rulemaking that considers the actual risk associated with options positions within one year of enactment.

To learn more about the Options Markets Stability Act, visit www.congress.gov.