Clearinghouses occupy a central position in the financial infrastructure, acting to insulate the system from the kinds of shocks that triggered the financial crisis. Ali Hackett, newly appointed global head of sales and relationship management at LCH.Clearnet, understands the interrelationships between financial counterparties, CCPs and regulators.

“We have this big obligation to the public markets even though we’re a commercial enterprise,” Hackett told Markets Media. “Trust plays highly into that.”

At LCH.Clearnet, Hackett will be responsible for maximizing the value, reach and range of the Group’s existing customer relationships while pursuing new member and client business opportunities.

“There are lots of constituents that make up the market place, including the banks, intermediaries, and end users,” she said. “It’s critically important to really know your customer, and to create a very deep understanding of what customers need in the market. That requires an infrastructure for capturing who the clients are, what they’re looking for from us and then what our follow up actions are when we work with them. We need to ensure that our systems effectively allow us to capture communications and respond.”

Hackett brings 30 years’ financial services experience to her job, including nearly 20 years at Citi, serving in positions of increasing responsibility culminating with managing director and co-head of global prime finance.

Most recently she served as an industry advisor with Formation 8, helping portfolio companies to develop successful client partnerships. Prior to this, Hackett was senior managing director, global client development and sales at CME Group. In this role, she was responsible for leading the company’s global sales force and for the development, execution and management of the company’s global sales strategy across all asset classes.

She began her career as a trader for Prudential Bache Securities and has also held sales roles at Shearson Lehman, Drexel Burnham Lambert and Citibank.

Suneel Bakhshi, CEO of LCH.Clearnet Group, said in a statement: “LCH.Clearnet continues to play a critical role within global capital markets and our customer base reflects the international nature of our business. I am therefore delighted to welcome Ali Hackett to the Group. Her experience, expertise and deep knowledge of our industry will further strengthen our global management team. In her new role, she will be integral to ensuring that we maintain a harmonized approach in our relationships with customers as we continue to grow our business and services around the world.”

Since the financial crisis, regulators have increasingly focused on the role CCPs and other systemically-important financial market utilities play in safeguarding the financial system. FMUs form a critical part of the financial infrastructure, as they support and facilitate the transfer, clearing or settlement of financial transactions, and their smooth operation is integral to the soundness of the financial system.

However, their function and interconnectedness also concentrate a considerable amount of risk in the financial system due, in large part, to the interdependencies, either directly through operational, contractual or affiliation linkages, or indirectly through payment, clearing, and settlement processes.

“Now is an interesting time to have a career in a CCP,” said Hackett. “We need to be partners with regulators. We need to constantly engage with them and communication is critical.”

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