Shanghai Clearing House urged to take bond collateral for FX trades

Dealers complain that feeble interest rate paid on cash margin raises cost of clearing

Shanghai Clearing House is facing calls to accept bonds as margin for foreign exchange trades, as dealers reel from high clearing costs exacerbated by paltry interest payments on cash collateral.

The Chinese clearing house already accepts bonds for some interest rate products, but for FX spot, swaps and forwards it only accepts US dollar and onshore renminbi (CNY) cash for initial and variation margin.

The interest rates on the cash margin, paid by the clearing house to posting firms, are lower