EUROCCP WINS FSA APPROVAL AS RECOGNIZED CLEARING HOUSE

Posted April 1, 2008

LONDON – The Financial Services Authority has approved European Central Counterparty Ltd. (EuroCCP), a subsidiary of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation,  as a UK Recognized Clearing House (RCH). The approval solidifies EuroCCP’s position as a competitive, low cost alternative for clearing and settlement in Europe.

“Initiatives such as MiFID and the Code of Conduct are changing the landscape in Europe and allowing new service providers such as EuroCCP to help market participants further reduce transaction costs, improve efficiency and connect more seamlessly in today’s market place,” says Diana Chan, Chief Executive Officer, EuroCCP.  

EuroCCP was selected to clear and settle for Project Turquoise, a new pan-European multilateral trading facility (MTF) created by a consortium of nine major global investment banks that will trade the most liquid equities in Europe. EuroCCP will use Citi’s Global Transaction Services as its settlement agent. “EuroCCP is in active discussions with other MTF trading platforms to provide clearing and settlement services,” says Chan.

 EuroCCP will accept trades from Project Turquoise and other trading platforms, which it will guarantee upon receipt and validation. It will net all transactions on all platforms in the same security into one amount for settlement per clearing participant. For trading firms that are not clearing participants of EuroCCP, the trades will be handled through general clearing participant relationships. EuroCCP will apply risk-based margining, with appropriate levels of margin collected on a daily basis. Unsettled obligations will be marked-to-market daily.

Citi will process EuroCCP’s settlement instructions for delivering and receiving securities and related payments in various currencies through its local securities network at various national central securities depositories (CSDs).