Euroclear Completes Acquisition of Xtrakter

Euroclear completed the acquisition of Xtrakter, owner of TRAX, the trade matching and reporting system for fixed-income, equity and derivatives transactions. Xtrakter was previously a subsidiary of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), which announced the transaction closing with Euroclear today.

Xtrakter becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Euroclear SA/NV and a sister company to the Euroclear group’s international and national central securities depositories, and EMXCo. Xtrakter has 100 employees and is based in London.

Tim May, chairman of Euroclear UK and Ireland, will also become chairman of Xrakter. As a leading source for fixed income business and reference data, Xtrackter’s business complements Euroclear Bank’s OTC trade matching and routing service and the trade reporting service provided by Euroclear UK & Ireland, according to the release. More than 300 financial institutions worldwide are TRAX clients.

In a statement, Euroclear Deputy CEO Ignace Combes said, “Our joint efforts will make it possible to automate trade information flows from matching, using the TRAX system through to settlement at Euroclear. We will eliminate fragmentation and trade matching duplication, while reducing costs and settlement fails.” The services offered by Xtrakter and Euroclear are complementary and will be instrumental in further reducing risks, Combes added in the release.

According to Euroclear’s executives, Xtrakter’s pre-settlement expertise combined with Euroclear’s efficient settlement transaction services will provide a competitively priced STP service. Together, Euroclear said it would continue to help its clients reduce post-trade costs by streamlining processes, leveraging technology and extending existing services such as trade reporting into new areas.

Meanwhile, with the sale of Xtrakter to Euroclear completed, ICMA, a self regulatory organization and trade association, said it would focus on its central commitments as a Pan European body.

Ivy is Editor-at-Large for Advanced Trading and Wall Street & Technology. Ivy is responsible for writing in-depth feature articles, daily blogs and news articles with a focus on automated trading in the capital markets. As an industry expert, Ivy has reported on a myriad ... View Full Bio