LCH.Clearnet appoints Tom Zschach as CIO

14 July 2011

LCH.Clearnet Group Ltd (LCH.Clearnet) has appointed Tom Zschach as group chief information officer (CIO). Mr. Zschach will be responsible for overseeing LCH.Clearnet’s technology infrastructure, ensuring that the robustness and resilience of the company’s industry-leading clearing solutions is preserved.

As a leading global clearing house group, LCH.Clearnet reduces risk for its customers worldwide, underpinning the safety and efficiency of many important financial markets.

Mr. Zschach has more than 21 years of technology experience within the investment banking environment. He joins the company from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he was managing director and co-head of global rates and currencies technology infrastructure. Prior to that, he held several senior technology roles at leading investment banks, supporting  fixed income, equities and derivatives businesses, including Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse First Boston, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers.

Ian Axe, chief executive, LCH.Clearnet, said: “Tom’s wealth of experience as a technology leader, coupled with his deep industry knowledge, will enable us to sustain the highest possible performance to meet the needs of our customers across the globe. With regulators and legislators looking to introduce more products to clearing, providing a safe, reliable and robust technology infrastructure is crucial.”

Tom Zschach, group CIO, LCH.Clearnet, said:  “This is a really interesting time to join LCH.Clearnet and I look forward to applying my experience and skills to support the growth of the business.  I am delighted to become part of a company where innovation and forward-thinking are a high priority.”

Mr. Zschach was appointed CIO of LCH.Clearnet with effect from 11 July 2011 and will report directly to Ian Axe.

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To view the press release as a pdf click here.

About LCH.Clearnet

LCH.Clearnet Group Limited 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, commodities, energy, freight, interest rate swaps, CDS 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.