LCH sees notionals hit €168 trillion

Central counterparty the London Clearing House (LCH) reported record volumes and notionals last year, seeing contracts cleared up by 40% to 315 million, worth a notional value of €168.13 trillion.

The LCH said transactions from its futures and options members had grown steadily through the year, and the implementation of relatively new business streams like the LCH EquityClear, LCH RepoClear and LCH SwapClear had helped to spur growth. The clearing plans to boost capabilities of these three clearing services throughout the year. EquityClear will add an optional netting service to the London Stock Exchange, plus offer a central counterparty service for virt-x - a European blue-chip trading platform. RepoClear will extend its range of instruments to include UK gilts, while SwapClear will also widen its product range and extend tenors to 30 years.

LCH chief executive David Hardy said growth had been across all areas of its business and members are benefiting from capital and cost efficiencies, netting and post-trade anonymity. He added that markets now benefit from increased liquidity and protection of their infrastructure integrity.