LCH and SIX to clear through SIGMA X MTF

Clearinghouses LCH and SIX x-clear will both be offering clearing services on the Goldman Sachs SIGMA X MTF platform from July.
SIGMA X MTF, a multilateral trading facility (MTF), will significantly expand the market coverage of both firms.

LCH’s EquityClear service will offer clearing across 17 active interoperable European equities trading venues, while SIX x-clear, the clearing arm of SIX Securities Services, will offer clearing in cash equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and fixed income securities.

LCH has increased its cleared volumes by 30 percent year-to-year through its EquityClear service, clearing 204 million trades in Q1 2016.

The increase in cleared volumes reflects an increasing trend for clearing members to consolidate their cash equities clearing through a single central counterparty as well as the addition of new venues, according to LCH.

Cécile Nagel, global head of equities and commodities at LCH, said: “This is a real milestone for EquityClear. We’re proud to be clearing for SIGMA X MTF and this latest addition builds on the significant extension of market and venue coverage we’ve achieved in the past 18 months.”

“Open access is at the heart of LCH’s business model and our equities clearing members can benefit from further cost and operational efficiency as well as improved risk management by consolidating their activity into one central counterparty.”

For SIX x-clear’s clients trading on the SIGMA X MTF platform, the central counterparty aims to eliminate the bilateral counterparty risks that occur between trade execution and settlement, according to SIX.

Additionally, x-clear provides its clients with market leading real time risk management capabilities as well as efficient margining and settlement netting functionalities.