EuroCCP To Begin Clearing Trades For Spanish Market

European Central Counterparty Limited (EuroCCP) is expected to clear and settle trades for European multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) in the Spanish market this week.

Most of the trades cleared by EuroCCP, a subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), are expected to come from the Turquoise platform.

Euro-CCP will also clear and settle trades in Spain for SmartPool, a new exchange-led, European dark pool for block trading established by the NYSE Euronext, HSBC, BNP Paribas and J.P. Morgan.

Average daily volume of transactions has risen to close to 400,000 transaction sides in January as a result of growing volumes of trades executed on Turquoise platforms. SmartPool trades began clearing through EuroCCP in early February.

EuroCCP Limited, which is headquartered in London and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) was formed to provide clearing and settlement services for a wide range of MTFs across European. It now clears equity trades for 15 national markets in Europe and plans to continue to expand into additional European markets throughout 2009.

“Spain represents the latest market to be added by EuroCCP following our initial launch of 14 countries in 2008,” stated Diana Chan, CEO of EuroCCP in the release. “Our objective is to continue to expand the platforms and markets we support so all of our participants can benefit from the reduced costs provided by our business model,” stated Chan in the release.

EuroCCP said its clearing costs are currently among the lowest in Europe, and as volume increases, unit costs for all users will drop. The organization provides clearing and settlement services for multiple platforms as well as high level of risk management and protection for its participants, according to the release.

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