• BNP Paribas Securities Corporation has joined LCH CDSClear as it expands its offering to the US market.
• Service offers market participants further choice of where to clear their CDS portfolios.
• LCH CDSClear offers widest breadth of products of any credit CCP globally.

LCH CDSClear announces the expansion of its client clearing services to US credit derivatives market participants, offering greater access to the capital reduction, margin offsets and operational efficiencies available through clearing to more clients globally. BNP Paribas Securities Corporation is the first futures commission merchant (FCM) entity to join LCH CDSClear and has cleared the first US buy-side trade on the service.

The extension of client clearing to US clients builds on the growth of LCH CDSClear as a global service. In December 2022, CDSClear went live with clearing for a range of Asian and Emerging Market indices and their single names, as well as Sovereign Single Names. This followed the announcement in September 2022 that LCH CDSClear went live with clearing for iTraxx Australia Indices and their Single Name constituents.

Frank Soussan, Global Head of CDSClear and Head of SA EquityClear & CommodityClear, LCH, said:

“Onboarding FCM members and expanding our services to US clients means we are not only extending the benefits of clearing to more market participants, but we are also increasing the choices that they have in CDS clearing. This is a significant step in our commitment to providing a truly global service with a single pool of liquidity to the cleared CDS market and we look forward to continuing to support our clients globally.”

Gaspard Bonin, Deputy Global Head of Derivatives Execution & Clearing, BNP Paribas, said:

“We are proud to be the first FCM member to go live with client clearing at LCH CDSClear for US market participants and are thankful to LCH for this opportunity. We continue to invest in our services and demonstrate our commitment to our American clients as their European bank of choice.”

A record €4.76 trillion in Index, Single Names and Options notional was cleared through LCH CDSClear in 2023, up 41% year-on-year. This includes a record $548 billion in USD Index and Single Names (Corporate and Sovereigns) notional cleared, up 342% year-on-year. LCH CDSClear has also registered a record €586 billion in Client notional cleared, up 93% versus 2022 (€305 billion). It’s CDS client clearing service has shown strong growth with 198 live client entities across 1,672 accounts, up from 110 live entities across 827 accounts at the end of 2022.

Source: LCH