ABN AMRO Clearing joins LCH.Clearnet's SwapClear

SwapClear membership reaches 37 

Amsterdam, London, 20 January 2011

ABN AMRO Clearing (ABN AMRO Clearing Bank N.V.) has successfully commenced clearing its interbank interest rate swap (IRS) trades through SwapClear, LCH.Clearnet Ltd’s (LCH.Clearnet) market leading over-the-counter (OTC) IRS clearing service, thereby significantly reducing counterparty, credit and operational risk. The total number of SwapClear clearing members now stands at 37.

ABN AMRO Clearing is a leading global securities services provider, covering 85 of the world’s leading exchanges across Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. It has 12 offices across the globe and consistently ranks among the top 3 clearers in every time zone, based on the amount of turnover and market share.

“The clearing of interest rate swaps through a robust central counterparty is critical to reducing systemic risk in the marketplace. With the swiftly changing regulatory environment of clearing services, ABN AMRO Clearing is determined to remain at the forefront of this growth industry. Clearing our dealer to dealer business with an industry leading service such as SwapClear will bring greater transparency and efficiency and we look forward to introducing the benefits of central clearing to our clients in the near future.” says Alexander Jacobs, Head of the OTC Derivatives Clearing Service at ABN AMRO Clearing.

Michael Davie, CEO, SwapClear said: "We are pleased to be providing our specialist OTC clearing experience to a member of such calibre. SwapClear affords exceptional levels of protection for clearing members and end-users, delivering a secure, reliable and efficient environment for processing IRS trades. The growing demand demonstrates just how effective our clearing model is.”

Established over eleven years ago, SwapClear’s product scope has grown to cover the world’s 14 largest currencies with tenors up to 50 years in USD, EUR and GBP. The only truly global clearing service for IRS, SwapClear now clears approximately 50% of the market by notional value. The total number of trades cleared in 2010 reached 766,000, representing a daily average of 2900 and a 25% increase on 2009. During the year SwapClear members eliminated 355,000 of EUR, USD and GBP denominated interest rate swap trades with a notional value of USD29 trillion in a series of triReduce termination cycles, thereby reducing operational costs and risks associated with trade count and notional volumes outstanding. SwapClear has cleared close to 3 million trades since launch in 1999. 
 

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To view the press release as a pdf click here.

About ABN AMRO Clearing

ABN AMRO Clearing, dedicated to servicing institutional market participants, such as professional  traders, banks, brokers, hedge funds, corporates, asset managers and pension funds, offers clearing and financing on more than 85 of the world’s leading exchanges for members and non-members alike. We consistently rank among the top three clearers in every time zone based on turnover and number of clients. We process non-exchange listed investment instruments and alternative products including bonds, warrants, foreign exchange, forwards and energy.

ABN AMRO Clearing offers you an extensive range of Market Access (MA) services from access via Independent Software Vendor’s (ISV’s) trading applications to proximity and co-location hosting services for members and non members alike. We have 24 data centres worldwide, chosen for their proximity or co-location to important exchanges, and available for client/member hosting services.

For more information: www.merchant-banking.nl/bcc.
 

About LCH.Clearnet

LCH.Clearnet is the leading independent clearing house group, serving major international exchanges and platforms, as well as a range of OTC markets.  It clears a broad range of asset classes including: securities, exchange traded derivatives, energy, freight, interbank interest rate swaps, credit default swaps and euro and sterling denominated bonds and repos; and  works closely with market participants and exchanges to identify and develop clearing services for new asset classes.

A clearing house sits in the middle of a trade, assuming the counterparty risk involved when two parties (or members) trade.  When the trade is registered with a clearing house, it becomes the legal counterparty to the trade, ensuring the financial performance; if one of the parties fails, the clearing house steps in.  By assuming the counterparty risk, the clearing house underpins many important financial markets, facilitating trading and increasing confidence within the market.

Initial and variation margin (or collateral) is collected from clearing members; should they fail, this margin is used to fulfill their obligations.  The amount of margin is decided by the clearing house’s highly experienced risk management teams, who assess a member’s positions and market risk on a daily basis.  Both the soundness of the risk management approach and the resilience of its systems have been proven in recent times.

LCH.Clearnet is regulated or overseen by the national securities regulator and/or central bank in each jurisdiction from which it operates.