Wells Fargo: clear ambition

Wells Fargo cleared its first swaps for a client in 2012, with its futures debut following a year later – it now has a total of $4 billion in client margin, and clearing head George Simonetti is targeting further growth

George Simonetti, Wells Fargo

It's rare to come across a bank that is aggressively trying to build a clearing business at the moment, but then it's rare to come across a big bank with an 8.1% ratio of equity capital to leverage exposure. That balance, which will be set at a minimum of 5% for large US banks under the terms of the supplementary leverage ratio (SLR), is now the principal constraint facing the clearing business, because customer trades count towards a bank's own exposure totals.

For Wells Fargo, it's a