Study on the below clearing houses Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Study on the below clearing houses - Assignment Example LCH Clearnet also specializes in risk management operations, thereby following a world-class risk management framework that provides exceptional levels of protection to international markets, which is evident through the management of recent defaults. As demand for superior quality clearing services continues to rise, the company is committed to attaining the pinnacle standards of risk management across all asset classes cleared. London Stock Exchange Group, which is a diversified international exchange group based in London, England, is the majority owner of LCH Clearnet (LCH Clearnet 2013). Figure 1: LCH group organizational structure (Source: Federal Reserve 2011) European Multilateral Clearing Facility (EMCF) EMCF is a clearing house headquartered in Netherlands. Their line of operations includes equity trades that are done on multilateral trading facility throughout Europe or on designated stock exchange. The company was established after the Markets in Financial Instruments Dir ective (MiFID) regulations were passed by the European Union. This directive allowed competition of services provided by the clearing houses. EMCF played a significant role in bringing down the cost of clearing within Europe by competing directly with other established clearing houses, thereby forcing them to reduce prices. The company has been delivering the most translucent and expected pricing for CCP clearing services all over Europe (EMCF 2013a). Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is a US post-trade financial services company that provides clearing and settlement services to their customers in the financial markets. The company provides a safe and efficient way for buyers and sellers of securities to conduct their exchange. In addition to that, they also provide central custody of securities. The primary function of the company is risk management and they have continued to do so since their inception about 40 years ago. The company is a combination of the Depository Trust Company (DTC) and National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC). With 40 years of experience, DTCC, through its subsidiaries, is the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry (DTCC 2013a). Figure 2: DTCC organizational structure (Source: The official board 2013) SIX Swiss Exchange SIX Swiss Exchange, formerly known as the SWX Swiss exchange, headquartered in Zurich, is one of the two primary stock exchanges in Switzerland. The company also trades other securities such as, Swiss government debt instruments and derivative instruments such as, stock options. Swiss Market Index (SMI) is the main stock market index for the company. The index mainly constitutes of the 20 most noteworthy equity-securities, evaluated on the basis of the free float market capitalization. SIX Swiss Exchange was the first stock exchange in the world known to have implemented a fully automated trading, clearing and settlement system in the year 1995 (SIX 2013a). SIX Swiss Exchange is also the joint owner of Eurex, the largest futures and derivatives exchange in the world, alongside their German counter partners, Deutsche Borse (SIX 2013b). The exchange has a blue-chip index as its principal stock market index. The Swiss Market Index (SMI) comprises of a maximum of twenty of the largest and most liquid large and mid-cap SPI stocks. Figure 3: SIX Swiss organizational structure The executive committee includes: (Source: Nobel Biocare 2013) 2.