LCH.com –LCH, the global clearing house, announced today that it will be offering equities clearing on SIGMA X MTF from July 2016. With the addition of SIGMA X MTF, LCH’s EquityClear service will offer clearing across 17 active interoperable European equities trading venues. As a result of this expansion and LCH’s open access approach, users of multiple trading venues will be able to further consolidate their trading activity through one clearing house.

LCH has continued to see a significant increase in cleared volumes through its EquityClear service, clearing 204 million trades in the first quarter of the year. This is up 30% from the same period in 2015. The growth in cleared volumes reflects an increasing trend for clearing members to consolidate their cash equities clearing through a single CCP as well as the addition of new venues.

Cécile Nagel, Global Head of Equities and Commodities, LCH, said:  “This is a real milestone for EquityClear. We’re proud to be clearing for SIGMA X MTF and this latest addition builds on the significant extension of market and venue coverage we’ve achieved in the past 18 months. Open access is at the heart of LCH’s business model and our equities clearing members can benefit from further cost and operational efficiency as well as improved risk management by consolidating their activity into one CCP.”

David Shrimpton, Head of Market Structure, EMEA Equities, Goldman Sachs, said:  “We continue to enhance SIGMA X MTF to meet the future needs of our clients and trading participants as the equities trading model evolves ahead of MiFID II implementation. Interoperability is a key part of the post-trade market infrastructure and we’re pleased to offer a choice of CCPs for SIGMA X MTF.