- Citadel has executed their first cleared FX non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) at LCH ForexClear, with Citi acting as the clearing broker
- Client clearing continues to see strong growth at the service with a record quarterly volume of $90 billion of notional in Q1 2022, up 42% versus Q1 2021
LCH (an LSEG business) announced Citadel’s go live at ForexClear. As an alternative investment firm with broad activity across global markets, Citadel is now clearing FX NDF trades at LCH ForexClear. Citi is facilitating the trades as the firm’s clearing broker.
James Pearson, head of ForexClear at LCH, said in a statement: “This builds on the strong growth at the service, which has historically been driven by a focus on margin efficiencies that will only increase with Phase 6 of the uncleared margin rules in September 2022. There has now been a realization that FX clearing can also bring significant capital savings, providing further benefits and helping the industry to respond to SA-CCR.”
John Niccolai, chief operating officer for Global Fixed Income at Citadel, said in a statement: “ForexClear is an important first step in the evolution of FX markets toward central clearing, which will increase transparency, reduce counterparty risk and strengthen liquidity. We are pleased to be using the service and look forward to engaging with LCH and other market participants to drive broad adoption of clearing across all currency pairs and FX products.”
Mariam Rafi, global head of Clearing and FXPB at Citi, said in a statement: “Citi’s clearing broker services bring the benefits of FX clearing to a broad range of market participants. ForexClear’s wide offering gives us, and our clients, the ability to reduce operational complexity and increase capital efficiencies.”