Markit, a leading global diversified provider of financial information services, today announced that MarkitServ, its electronic trade processing service for over-the-counter derivatives, is providing trade affirmation, connectivity and trade status messaging services to support clearing of OTC equity derivatives by OCC, the first clearinghouse in the US to clear these types of transactions.
J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley were among the first institutions to route OTC equity index option trades to OCC via MarkitSERV upon the debut of OCC's OTC clearing service on April 25th 2014.
Michael E. Cahill, president and ceo of OCC, said: "We are very pleased to have worked with MarkitSERV to launch a clearing solution that will mitigate counterparty and systemic risk in the OTC equity derivatives market. Working with MarkitSERV for the pre clearing trade confirmation and affirmation process is a critical component of this industry solution."
Henry Hunter, managing director and global head of derivatives processing at Markit, said: "The new service from OCC is an important milestone because now all OTC derivative asset classes are being cleared. This highlights how far the industry has moved to satisfy goals set by regulators over the last few years. We offer customers one venue to manage the clearing of OTC credit, equity, interest rate and foreign exchange derivatives, as well as trade reporting, SEF connectivity and confirmation of bilateral trades."
Globally, MarkitSERV provides market participants and execution venues with a single point of access to 16 clearinghouses worldwide and an integrated, multi asset class service for the management of trade confirmation, clearing, allocation of block trades and regulatory reporting in several jurisdictions.