Cboe Global Markets (CBOE) Risk Analysis

Cboe Options, C2, BZX, BYX, EDGX, and EDGA are registered national securities exchanges and SROs, and, as such, are subject to comprehensive regulation by the SEC. Cboe Fixed Income is a registered broker-dealer also subject to comprehensive regulation by the SEC and a member of FINRA. CFE and Cboe Digital Exchange are each a DCM, Cboe SEF is a SEF, and Cboe Clear U.S. is a DCO, each registered with the CFTC and subject to comprehensive regulation by the CFTC. In addition to its other SRO responsibilities, BZX, as a listing market, also is responsible for evaluating applications submitted by issuers interested in listing their securities on BZX and monitoring each issuer's compliance with BZX's continued listing standards. The Exchanges may be subject to additional responsibilities in other international jurisdictions where the Exchanges may be authorized to act as foreign exchanges. Failure to comply with these SRO and other regulatory responsibilities could result in potential sanctions or fines and a negative impact on Cboe's reputation and/or branding. Our European businesses are subject to regulatory oversight in the UK by the FCA and in the Netherlands by the DNB and the AFM, which, through the "passporting" regime, provides authorization to carry on business in other Member States of the EU and the EEA in accordance with the applicable EU legislation and regulation to which our European business is subject. Cboe Canada Inc. is subject to regulatory oversight in Canada by its primary provincial securities authority, the OSC. In addition, Cboe Canada Inc. is a Marketplace Member of, and subject to a regulation services agreement with, CIRO. Cboe Australia is subject to regulatory oversight in Australia by the ASIC. Cboe Japan is subject to regulatory oversight in Japan by the JFSA and the JSDA. BIDS Trading is a registered broker-dealer subject to regulatory oversight in the U.S. by the SEC and FINRA. BIDS Trading operates an ATS that is not registered as a national securities exchange, and there is risk that the BIDS Trading ATS or certain other Cboe entities could be deemed to be a "facility" of our registered national securities exchanges, which could materially affect our ability to operate these businesses under their current regulatory frameworks. If a regulatory authority makes a finding of non-compliance, or if regulatory interpretations change, conditional fines could be imposed, and our licenses could be revoked. Any such fine or revocation of a license could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results. In addition to the requirements related to operating our U.S. markets imposed by the SEC and the CFTC, we also have certain responsibilities for regulating the TPHs and members that trade on our Exchanges. While we have entered into agreements under which FINRA, with respect to our options and equities exchanges provides certain regulatory services, and under which OCC, with respect to CFE provides certain financial surveillance and regulatory services, we retain ultimate responsibility for the regulation of our TPHs and members. We have begun to perform internally more of the regulatory services that FINRA used to handle. Our ability to comply with applicable laws and rules is largely dependent on the establishment and maintenance of appropriate systems and procedures, our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, the ability of FINRA and OCC to perform under their respective regulatory services agreements, the ability of FINRA and OCC to transition to us any other potential responsibilities under their respective regulatory services agreements, our ability to complete the new additional responsibilities for regulating our TPHs and members and our oversight of the work done by FINRA and OCC. The SEC and CFTC have broad powers to audit, investigate and enforce compliance and to punish noncompliance by, as applicable, SROs, DCOs, DCMs and SEFs pursuant to applicable laws, rules, and regulations. If a regulatory authority were to find one of our programs of enforcement or compliance to be deficient, our SROs, DCM, or SEF could be the subject of investigations and enforcement proceedings that may result in substantial sanctions, including revocation of registration as a national securities exchange, DCM, or SEF. Any such investigations or proceedings, whether successful or unsuccessful, could result in substantial costs, the diversion of resources, including management time, and potential harm to our reputation, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results. In addition, our SROs, DCM, or SEF may be required to modify or restructure their regulatory functions in response to any changes in the regulatory environment, or they may be required to rely on third parties to perform regulatory and oversight functions, each of which may require us to incur substantial expenses and may harm our reputation if our regulatory services are deemed inadequate. In addition, SROs are required by federal law to perform a variety of regulatory functions. In light of these responsibilities, some courts have held that SROs are immune to certain private causes of action relating to the performance of these regulatory functions. There is a risk that some courts may not apply this immunity doctrine to all claims. There is also a risk that legislative or regulatory developments may change the application of this immunity doctrine. Limitations on the application of the immunity doctrine could result in an increased exposure to litigation, and increase liability and/or other legal expenses. Further, under the CEA, CFE, Cboe SEF, Cboe Clear U.S., and Cboe Digital Exchange may be subject to litigation alleging that they have acted in bad faith. We also could be exposed to liability to regulators or other governmental authorities even in situations where immunity would bar a civil claim.

Changes in regulation by the SEC, CFTC, FCA, DNB, AFM, CIRO, OSC, ASIC, JFSA, JSDA, other domestic and foreign regulators or other government action, including approval by these regulators of rule filings or initiatives by other SROs or entities, including OCC, could materially affect our markets, products and clearinghouse. In recent years, the securities and derivatives industries have been subject to regulatory changes as a result of increasing government and public scrutiny of the securities and derivatives industries. We have also experienced, and we may continue to experience due to changes in administrations in the jurisdictions that we operate and expansion into other asset classes, such as SFT, U.S. Treasuries, or event prediction markets, and geographies, an increase in rulemaking and legislation or changes in regulatory interpretations that could affect our business. In particular, in December 2022, the SEC released four proposals that could impact equity market structure: (1) Disclosure of Order Execution Information (Rule 605); (2) Regulation NMS Amendments: Tick Size, Access Fees, and Transparency; (3) Regulation Best Execution; and (4) Proposed Rule to Enhance Order Competition. Each of these proposals has been noticed for public comment, and in 2024, Rule 605 and the Tick Size/Access Fee Cap proposals were approved by the SEC and await implementation. Rule 605 and Tick Size/Access Fee Cap rule may result in increased technology and compliance costs to Cboe. The Tick Size/Access Fee Cap rule is also likely to result in increased technology and compliance costs to Cboe, as well as potential adverse impact to Cboe's trading volume and transaction fee revenue. In June 2025, the SEC withdrew the Regulation Best Execution and Order Competition proposals. Additionally, in 2025, the SEC held a roundtable to examine potential amendments to Rule 611 (the Order Protection Rule) under Regulation NMS. While no formal proposal has been released, potential changes to Rule 611 could have serious implications for market structure, order routing practices, and the competitive dynamics among trading venues, which could materially impact our business, financial condition, and operating results. See Note 23 ("Commitments, Contingencies, and Guarantees - Legal Proceedings") for more information. Under EU and UK regulations, European and UK banks and other European and UK financial institutions become subject to punitive capital charges if they transact options or futures through a third country central counterparty ("CCP") that is not recognized in the applicable jurisdiction. OCC is recognized as a third country CCP by the EU and is currently operating under the UK's temporary recognition regime. Although the UK has not issued any equivalency determination with respect to U.S. CCPs, OCC has submitted its application for permanent recognition in the UK. The current deadline for recognition in the UK is December 31, 2027, and may be extended by His Majesty's Treasury in the future in increments of 12 months each. As a prerequisite to ultimately achieving recognition in the UK, it is possible that OCC could be required by the UK to contribute capital to its default waterfall applicable in the event of clearing member default. This capital could be required to be drawn before the default fund contributions of non-defaulting clearing members in the event that a defaulting clearing member's margin and other contributions were to be exhausted. OCC's stockholders, including Cboe Options, could effectively be required to fund this capital. If the UK does not recognize OCC as a third country CCP, then UK market participants that clear through OCC would become subject to punitive capital charges. As a result, we could experience the loss of a significant number of UK market participants and a significant reduction in trading activity on our options and futures markets, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results. The implementation of MiFID II and MiFIR in Europe at the beginning of 2018 has encouraged competition among market centers in Europe. MiFID II and MiFIR have introduced a number of new rules, including enhanced internal organizational and compliance monitoring requirements, which apply directly to European trading venues such as our MTF and RM. The impact of MiFID II and MiFIR is significant, and the increased competition among market centers could reduce trading fees, while increasing our costs of operating in Europe. Additionally, European authorities are currently undertaking a review of MiFID as a result of which new rules may come into effect that could have a material impact on our business. In 2021 the E.C. published proposals for the review of EU market structure, including provisions for a consolidated tape for the EU and changes to the transparency regime for equities. These proposals are expected to be implemented during 2026. In 2025, the E.C. published additional proposals that could impact EU market structure and the consolidated tape. These new rules, if amended during the legislative process, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results. The legislative and regulatory environment in which the spot FX market operates is evolving and has undergone significant changes in the recent past, and there may be future regulatory changes in the spot FX industry. The FX Global Code was published in 2017, and re-affirmed in 2024, and sets forth standards of conduct agreed by market participants and central banks on a global basis to apply to the wholesale FX market, and the effect of its publication on conduct and future regulation continues to evolve. Cboe FX issued a Statement of Commitment declaring its commitment to conduct its FX market activities in a manner consistent with the principles of the FX Global Code. Amendments to the FX Global Code, changes in the interpretation or enforcement of existing laws and regulations by applicable governmental bodies and regulatory organizations, or the adoption of new legal or regulatory requirements, may also adversely affect our spot FX business. Further, our FX NDF business may also be adversely affected by proposed regulatory changes to the rules governing swap execution facilities. It is also possible that there will be additional legislative, regulatory, and enforcement changes, priorities or efforts in the environment in which we operate, or plan to operate, our businesses. Actions on any of the specific regulatory issues currently under review in the U.S. or internationally and other proposals could have a material impact on our business. In addition, U.S. and foreign legislatures and regulators could impose legislative or regulatory changes that could materially adversely impact the ability of our market participants to use our markets or participate in the securities industry at all. Any such changes could result in the loss of a significant number of market participants or a reduction in trading activity on our markets, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results. Changes or proposed changes in regulation may also result in additional costs of compliance and modification of market participants' trading activity on our Exchanges and markets.

We are a party to a number of license agreements that permit us to list tradable products related to various indices that are among the most actively traded products on our exchanges. We also enter into agreements pursuant to which we disseminate third-party data or act as an index provider and calculate and disseminate proprietary indices and other values. We believe that demand for our products is based in part on market perception of the quality and integrity of these indices. The quality and integrity of these indices are dependent on the ability of index providers, including us, to properly maintain the indices. Maintenance includes ongoing index calculation and index rebalancing, and depends on data providers for a number of things, including the timely provision of accurate input data. Extended outages or disruptions at these third parties (whether due to technology failures, data center infrastructure issues, such as the cooling system malfunctions that occurred at a third-party exchange in 2025, cyberattacks, or other causes) could impair our ability to calculate indices, provide market data products, or maintain trading operations. We also rely on index providers to enforce intellectual property rights against unlicensed uses of the indices and uses of the indices that infringe on our licenses. Some of our agreements concerning our proprietary products obligate the parties to those agreements to provide important services to us. If any of our index providers, including us, are unable to maintain the quality and integrity of indices, or if any of the index providers or service providers, including us, fail to perform their obligations under the agreements, trading in derivative products, and therefore transaction fees we receive, may be materially adversely affected or we may not receive the financial benefits of the agreements that we negotiated. Differences in the calculations from methodologies described in published materials, incorrect calculations of our indices, errors in the dissemination of data, or the failure to implement any planned remedial changes may result in the loss of perceived quality and integrity of our indices, loss of demand for our products, increased potential for investigations and enforcement proceedings, increased potential for failure to perform our obligations under agreements concerning our products or in our capacity as an index provider, and increased exposure to third-party claims and related litigation expenses, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results.