Downgrade fears push South Africa banks to join CCPs

FirstRand, Barclays Africa and Standard Bank eye direct LCH membership

South Africa: downgrade fears are prompting local banks to join CCPs

The looming threat of a downgrade to South Africa's sovereign credit rating has forced some of the country's largest banks to take radical action to ensure access to overseas central counterparties (CCPs), with some fearing that a cut to junk status would preclude international CCPs such as LCH from allowing them to onboard.

FirstRand, one of the country's largest banks, has joined LCH Ltd's SwapClear service via a newly created London-based markets entity, FirstRand Securities Ltd, which will