CME vs LCH.Clearnet: Clients may face CCP-specific pricing, warn FCMs

The two biggest clearing houses for interest rate swaps, CME and LCH.Clearnet, have different margin models – which may affect the prices charged to clients by clearing members. It could also affect the contest between the two venues. Joe Rennison reports

Customers that visit the McDonald’s restaurant on Victoria Street in London can buy a Big Mac for £2.69 – the equivalent of $4.06. That burger would cost $4.49 – or £2.97 – from the McDonalds at 160 Broadway in New York. The same product, bought at two different venues, has two different prices.

Some futures commission merchants (FCMs) argue the same should be true for the charges they apply to cleared over-the-counter derivatives – the cost of clearing a five-year, US dollar interest rate swap