BNP Paribas Securities Services, a leading global custodian with around USD9 trillion in assets under custody, today announced the launch of clearing, settlement and custody services for clients trading Euro cash liquidity through the €GCPlus service. €GCPlus was initially developed by Banque de France in collaboration with LCH.Clearnet SA and Euroclear.
€GCPlus is a centrally-cleared triparty repo secured financing market. This innovative solution enables market participants to secure euro cash lending with standardised baskets of collateral, to re-use eligible collateral received either with the Banque de France or with any of the collateral takers.
€GCPlus is well adapted for asset managers, corporates, banks and other financial institutions, which enjoy easy access to a new source of secured liquidity.
As part of this service, BNP Paribas Securities Services acting as sole General Clearing Member (GCM) on €GCPlus service will handle the legal relationship with LCH.Clearnet SA, post required default fund contributions and pre-fund margin call payments on behalf of its clients. Clients will also benefit from BNP Paribas Securities Services’ clearing and settlement systems and avoid some of the implementation costs linked to new clearing regulations.
Jean-Marc Baudot, head of clearing, custody and settlement products (Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal) at BNP Paribas Securities Services, said: “Our clients are looking for ways to manage collateral efficiently, move it quickly and address their funding needs. €GCPlus is one of the products that help them do that. Consequently, we have devised a range of services designed to handle the various operational processes linked to trading €GCPlus. This offer will complement our existing clearing, settlement, custody and financing solutions.”
Cyril Louchtchay de Fleurian, head of Collateral Management and Securities Financing Products at Euroclear, said: “As a financial market infrastructure, Euroclear is dedicated to providing services that reduce risk and improve market efficiency. Since launching €GCPlus in 2014, clients have benefitted from easy access to the triparty repo process, with a reduced operational burden. Offering €GCPlus through BNP Paribas Securities Services is another step in developing this market solution.”
Michael Carignano, Head of Fixed Income, LCH.Clearnet SA, said: “An increasing number of market participants are looking to gain access to central clearing so they can benefit from greater operational and capital efficiencies. In 2015, we’ve seen a marked uptick in cleared volumes through €GCPlus. We’re pleased to be working with BNP Paribas Securities Services to launch this client clearing service and look forward to continuing this partnership with them.”
