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This development supports the position the Exchange has taken on the need for more effective clearing and settlement arrangements in Europe, and follows on from the Exchange's initiative with Euroclear announced last December to provide its customers with a broader range of settlement services.
Welcoming the merger, Clara Furse, Chief Executive of the Exchange, said: "This deal is very good news for our customers. In bringing together two user-owned, user-governed 'horizontal' settlement organisations to create Europe's largest settlement organisation, Euroclear and CRESTCo will be able to further reduce the cost of settlement and, by extension, the cost of capital.
"We welcome the governance arrangements for the new Group which are designed to ensure an open system with complete impartiality in terms of services provided to clearing houses and exchanges.
"Reductions in the cost of cross-border settlement that will flow from this merger should stimulate greater cross-border trading, which will help to remove one of the main barriers to freer competition between exchanges in Europe."
Don Cruickshank, Chairman of the Exchange, said: The Exchange has been arguing strongly for a more streamlined, user-governed settlement solution in Europe, and this is a great step towards delivering that."
As Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange, Clara Furse has accepted the invitation to take a seat on the Board of the new Group.
