.jpg)
Since launch, 60 member firms have used Bclear to register wholesale equity derivative transactions. These have included index futures and options as well as single stock options and Universal Stock Futures (USFs) on securities from 10 different European countries. USFs were introduced to Bclear on 1 March 2006 and since then over 2 million contracts have been registered.
Bclear forms the core of three integrated services - Afirm, Bclear and Cscreen, which offer customers straight-through processing (STP) for wholesale equity derivatives transactions. Bclear is the on-exchange administration and clearing service that provides a simple and cost-effective way to register and process wholesale equity derivatives trades through Euronext.liffe to clearing at LCH.Clearnet Ltd. This reduces the counter-party credit, legal and operational risks associated with off-exchange deals. Bclear enables registration of both ‘standard exchange’ and ‘flexible’ trades in futures and options covering 12 country and pan-European indices as well as futures and options on over 300 European securities from 15 markets.
Morgan Stanley, the number one user of Bclear, said: “The introduction of Bclear allows us to tailor features for our clients, such as strike, maturity and settlement style with the advantage of a central clearing house guaranteeing each trade. This service ticks all the right boxes for us.”
Euronext.liffe’s chief executive, Hugh Freedberg, said: “The launch of our wholesale equity derivatives service was designed to offer our customers a fully integrated, efficient and cost-effective way of trading. As the only exchange to offer such a service we are pleased that Bclear has already traded over ten million contracts demonstrating the need for this facility from our international institutional customer base.”
