Standard Chartered becomes first UK clearing member at HKEx

OTC Clearing has expanded its clearing house with the addition of Standard Chartered Bank

OTC Clearing Hong Kong has signed up Standard Chartered Bank as its first UK incorporated clearing member.

The subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) providing OTC derivatives now has eight clearing members including Bank of China, The Bank of East Asia Ltd and Hang Seng Bank Ltd.

"As one of the designated Primary Liquidity Providers of the offshore RMB market in Hong Kong, as well as a key stakeholder and market maker in regional OTC derivative markets, Standard Chartered Bank's participation significantly adds value to our service offering,” said Calvin Tai, HKEx's Head of Global Clearing (Asia).

"We see an increasing interest in clearing membership from regional and global banks, as central clearing via OTC Clear can effectively help ameliorate some of the current credit and capital restrictions in RMB fixed income and currency derivative markets," Tai added.

Hong Kong was one of five countries deemed to have an equivalent clearing regime by European regulators earlier this year.

Gene K. Kim, Regional Head of Financial Markets for Greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered also spoke about the partnership

"OTC Clear is the first OTC derivatives clearing house in Hong Kong and its offering to clear offshore RMB OTC products is in line with the strong growth and increasing volumes of RMB derivatives traded offshore,” he said.

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