Cboe Clear Europe, a pan-European clearing house, today announced that it has received regulatory approval to clear European Securities Financing Transactions (SFTs).
This has reportedly been granted by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) and the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM).
With this approval, Cboe Clear Europe is set to introduce a service for European SFT transactions in cash equities and ETFs, which “includes central clearing, settlement and post-trade lifecycle management.”
It is available to principal lenders, special participant lenders (UCITS and non-UCITS) and borrowers, with settlements carried out cross 19 European Central Securities Depositories (CSDs).
The service supports regulatory initiatives such as the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), Central Securities Depositary Regime (CSDR) and the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR), thereby promoting “transparency, market integrity and the competitiveness of European capital markets.”
This service will help to transform the bilateral process between securities lenders and borrowers into “a centrally cleared model, with Cboe Clear Europe acting as the counterparty to both sides of each transaction.”
They believe this enables participants to reduce their risk-weighted asset exposures associated “with SFTs and supports the growth of this key market.”
It is now expected to bring various capital and operational advantages, including savings from “cross-margining between cash equities and SFTs, greater settlement efficiencies, elimination of agent lender disclosures, and improved practices around fees management and corporate actions.”
The service will utilize The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation and J.P. Morgan as Tri-Party Collateral Agents, while Pirum will “serve as the transmitter of new trade instructions and post-trade lifecycle events on behalf of clients.”
Jan Treuren, Senior Director, Product, Cboe Clear Europe, said that they are eager to build out this new clearing eco-system in collaboration with market participants and are already “in advanced discussions with a wide variety of firms, including banks, asset managers, broker-dealers, and Agent Lenders – representing beneficial owners like pension funds and UCITS – to help ensure a smooth launch in the coming weeks and months.”
Treuren added that this service is supported by risk management framework, offering clients the advantage of Cboe Clear Europe’s “extensive settlement experience and broad direct connectivity to 19 European CSDs.” They also mentioned that initially, the service will “cover key European markets, with plans to expand the offering based on client demand and market developments.”
As a pan-European cash equities clearing house, Cboe Clear Europe currently provides its services for 47 trading venues, “achieving a record cash equity market share of 37.2% in Q3 2024.”
The company enables Clearing Participants to manage their counterparty credit risk and also to maximize “operational efficiencies through automated processing and the provision of netting opportunities.”
It diversified into equity derivatives clearing in 2021 to support the launch of Cboe Europe Derivatives (CEDX), Cboe’s pan-European equity derivatives exchange, which “includes equity index and single stock derivatives.”