One of APAC’s largest regional participants, DBS Bank, has joined LCH SwapClear as the first direct member in Singapore.
It joins a growing member network in the Asia Pacific region at SwapClear, which now has 13 APAC direct members and 170 clients.
“Singapore is a strategic focus for us as we look to expand our services throughout APAC,” said Isabelle Girolami, chief executive officer at LCH, in a statement.
“Through our continued investments in regional products, services, and people we hope DBS and other APAC firms continue to derive incremental value.”
The partnership will also mean DBS is able to post Singapore government bonds as collateral, making LCH the first global offshore clearing house to accept the asset class.
“This partnership will also provide us with the highest standard of risk mitigation and unparalleled capital and margin efficiencies to further fortify our treasury markets business amid an increasingly competitive landscape,” said Andrew Ng, group head of treasury and markets at DBS Bank.
“In particular, LCH’s expansion of collateral services to include Singapore Government Bonds was a particularly important step to meet our local market needs.”
LCH moved to extend the traditional operating hours of its SwapClear service at the end of last year, implementing a 24 hour a day five day a week system to better support market participants in the region in March.