European Central Counterparty Limited (EuroCCP), a wholly owned subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), has appointed Jeffrey Smith chief executive officer and Bernard Till chief operating officer.
Headquartered in London, EuroCCP was created to deliver a seamless, low-cost cross-border clearing and settlement solution for transactions executed on Nasdaq Europe in both European and US securities. The company received recognition from the Financial Services Authority on September 14, 2001.
Prior to joining DTCC, Smith served as executive vice president and international treasurer for Daiwa Securities America, where he was responsible for all international treasury-related functions for the firm. Before Daiwa, he spent 20 years with Salomon Brothers.
Till, an international services division vice president based in London, has been involved in DTCC’s initiatives related to the improvement of cross-border settlement and global straight-through processing. He also led efforts to create a global clearing infrastructure, co-authoring a white paper on common standards, best practices and interoperability among CCPs globally. Before joining DTCC, Till worked at the London Stock Exchange.
According to Smith, EuroCCP will be ready for operation in the fourth quarter of this year and says he and his team will be working with Nasdaq Europe to bring potential participants on board over the coming months.
"The new organisation will allow for centralised clearing of trading activities and settlement in home depositories, where settlement liquidity is greatest, substantially reducing the fail rate for cross-border trades," he says.