BBVA signs on to Sernova Financial clearing utility

Spanish banking group joins Sernova derivatives clearing facility to manage CCP strategy.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has signed on to cloud-based derivatives clearing provider Sernova Financial’s clearing services.

London-based Sernova will provide technology and operational house and client post-trade derivative solutions to the Spanish banking group’s collection of clearing houses and brokers.

“BBVA is focused on providing more and better services to our clients and so we have selected Sernova to ensure that we can more effectively manage a multi-CCP and broker world,” said Ian Downes, managing director of CIB post-trade business development at BBVA.  “This will result in a more automated digital product offering, better pricing and greater flexibility for our customers.”

Sernova is headed by Venkatesh Ramasamy, the former global co-head of prime services at RBS, and is backed by clearing technology vendor Calypso.

“Market participants using Sernova as a centralised technology and operations derivative clearing solution benefit from a variable cost base and implementation simplicity to reduce the complexities surrounding compliance with global regulation,” said Ramasamy.

Last year Sernova integrated FirstRand Securities, a South African investment firm and owned by FirstRandBank, as its first client where it would provide cloud-based services to enable to clearing of interest rate swaps at LCH. 

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