Financial services accelerated by software containerization

The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) is the sole central counterparty clearinghouse for US-listed options. It serves over 100 clearing members, including some of the largest US broker-dealers, securities firms and futures commission merchants, which rely on OCC’s efficient and effective clearing and risk management services. With a history spanning more than 50 years, OCC was designated a systemically important financial market utility (SIFMU) in 2012, amplifying its critical role in the marketplace.

However, the organization faced challenges in managing the growing complexity of transactions across its ecosystem. Manual operations, time-consuming upgrades, scalability bottlenecks and the need for airtight security made integration and governance increasingly difficult within its legacy IT infrastructure. OCC was especially slowed down by extensive manual processes and upgrade cycles that took up to 18 months for even minor version updates. OCC needed to modernize its infrastructure and adapt to new technologies to ensure continued resilience and security for the US-listed options market.

By migrating to containerized software, OCC plans to significantly reduce upgrade cycle times. Minor upgrades that used to take 18 months will be done in a day and a half. This rapid acceleration is anticipated to result in substantial cost savings and optimized operational efficiency. Moin Syed, Middleware Integration Manager at OCC, highlights the impact: “With IBM Sterling containers, we’re no longer tied to the past—we’re building the future of financial infrastructure.” The transition to a container architecture supports autoscaling for more than 500 GB daily transactions, improving its clearing member experience. Additionally, the transition also prepares OCC for hybrid cloud to enhance its ability to adapt to market volatility.

OCC’s day-to-day operations too will see significant improvements, including streamlined security tasks and upgraded monitoring capabilities that capture detailed metrics and implement more effective alerts. As OCC continues its modernization journey, it will strengthen its partnership with IBM, who will continue to support OCC with the tools and expertise necessary to stay at the forefront of financial technology innovation. “The move to containers was the natural and logical conclusion because we simply couldn't afford to be static—as IBM innovates, we must too,” says Greg Hanson, Principal Infrastructure Architect at OCC.

The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) (link resides outside of ibm.com) is the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization. Established in 1973, OCC is dedicated to promoting stability and market integrity by delivering clearing and settlement services for options, futures and securities lending transactions. As a systemically important financial market utility (SIFMU), OCC operates under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. OCC has more than 100 clearing members and provides central counterparty clearing and settlement services to 20 exchanges and trading platforms. OCC also provides free and engaging educational resources about the benefits and risks of options through its Options Industry Council (OIC).