On Wednesday 13 December, the total volume in equity derivatives futures and options registered through Euronext.liffe’s Bclear wholesale service in 2006 passed the 50 million lot milestone (€1,500 billion in notional value).
Since launch, 70 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 12 different countries.
Hugh Freedberg, Chief Executive of Euronext.liffe said: “We have seen tremendous support for our Bclear service from a wide range of international customers who are taking advantage of an efficient and cost-effective way of trading.”
Additionally, and to reflect customer requests, on Friday 15 December Euronext.liffe will be introducing four new short-term maturities (1, 2, 3 and 6 months) on Variance Futures contracts available via Bclear. Variance Futures with 9, 12 and 15 month maturities on the FTSE 100, CAC 40 and AEX-index were introduced on Bclear on 15 September 2006.
Variance is a measure of volatility, which is increasingly traded as an asset class in its own right. Variance is typically traded in the form of Variance Swaps in the over-the counter (“OTC”) market. With Bclear, users have the flexibility to negotiate Variance Futures trades directly and privately, before registering these trades as an Exchange Contract.
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 and cleared through LCH.Clearnet Ltd. Bclear 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 400 European and US securities from 17 markets.
