Barclays has joined EurexOTC Clear to support Eurex in expanding its distribution network in the U.S.
In so doing, Barclays is the first European bank to offer Eurex’s OTC clearing services through its U.S. registered futures commission merchant (FCM) to U.S. clients. The first transaction has been already successfully cleared.
This latest development demonstrates the continuing increase in U.S. demand for Eurex’s OTC clearing services. In Q1 2019, Citi was the first U.S.-based FCM which began offering its clients swap clearing through Eurex Clearing. Also, in early 2019, two U.S.-based Swap Execution Facilities (SEF), Bloomberg and Tradeweb, established direct connectivity with Eurex OTC clearing granting U.S. clients the ability to directly submit their executed swap transactions to Eurex Clearing.
Stephen Li, Barclays Head of ADS Americas said: “We are pleased to connect to Eurex Clearing from the U.S. as it demonstrates Barclays’ commitment to provide choice and meet clients’ needs for an alternative liquidity pool in euro interest rate swap clearing.”
Tim Gits, Head of Fixed Income Sales Americas at Eurex: “Barclays is a great addition to our EurexOTC Clear offering and a testament to the growing interest we are experiencing in the U.S. The growth we have seen from U.S. institutions since receiving CFTC approval in late 2018 has been very encouraging, and the number of FCMs and clients in the pipeline is very promising.”
In December 2018, Eurex Clearing had received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to offer customer swap clearing in the U.S. in addition to the clearing services for futures already provided. In this context, Eurex Clearing had launched a legal framework that complies with the LSOC (Legally Segregated Operationally Commingled) requirements stipulated by the CFTC for the clearing of customer swap transactions.