LCH, which is the clearing subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group, announced on Wednesday the addition of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) as a member, becoming the first Aussie financial institution to join the Paris-based clearinghouse.
“It’s a great milestone to welcome CBA as the first Australian member of LCH SA,” said Corentine Poilvet-Clediere, LCH SA’s Head of RepoClear, Collateral and Liquidity.
As a member of RepoClear, the CBA can access the largest euro-denominated pool of cleared repos. In addition, it can access significant capital and operational efficiencies that include balance sheet netting and intra-day liquidity management.
RepoClear offers access to 13 markets. Additionally, the clearinghouse highlighted the onboarding of the Aussie banks, showing the growing demand for the RepoClear service outside of Europe. The CBA has become the 97th member of the clearinghouse.
“RepoClear SA has been gaining increasing traction in regions outside Europe, with members joining from Japan, Canada and now Australia. Banks such as CBA play a key role in further deepening and enriching our netting pool. We are looking forward to working in collaboration with CBA, providing a best-in-class clearing service,” Poilvet-Clediere added.
Increasing RepoClear's Demand
RepoClear SA has witnessed significant growth in its volume and membership in recent years. In 2021, it recorded €195 trillion of nominal cleared across 9.4 million trades, representing a 15 percent and 29 percent increase, respectively.
Meanwhile, RepoClear is merging its €GC and RepoClear SA offering into one single liquidity pool with cross netting, but that is still pending regulatory approval.
Commenting on becoming the first Aussie member of RepoClear, CBA’s Executive General Manager of Global Markets, Chris McLachlan, said: “The service’s 13 euro-denominated debt markets and recent expanded access for the buy-side, offers vital access to secured funding markets for CBA and its clients, as well as offering significant opportunities for capital and operational efficiencies.”
