London Stock Exchange-owned Turquoise has become the latest European trading platform to offer its customers the choice of four different clearing providers.
Subject to regulatory approval, from November traders on the Turquoise pan-European equities platform will be able to choose to clear via existing provider EuroCCP or Cassa di Compensazione e Garanzia (CC&G), LCH.Clearnet or SIX x-clear.
The move is designed to promote competition and champion customer choice says the company, with participants benefiting from the opportunity to cross-margin and cross-net trades carried out across different venues.
Turquoise claims to be the first platform to offer customers the flexibility to select separate clearing houses for business transacted in different countries although Bats Europe insists it already provides this option as part of its preferred interoperable clearing service, launched in July.
Adrian Farnham, CEO, Turquoise, says: "Interoperable clearing on Turquoise is great news for our customers, and a positive step forward for European market infrastructure as a whole. It will give customers choice and drive competition in clearing. This will in turn encourage further efficiency and innovation in the post trade space."
Traders and operators have spent years lobbying for clearing interoperability as a way to reduce post-trade costs. Agreement was reached within the industry some time ago but progress has been stymied over the last couple of years by regulators' concerns about the associated systemic risks.
This year has seen a breakthrough though, with both Chi-X Europe and Bats recently promising to offer traders the choice of four different clearers by the beginning of next year.