.jpg)
Nasdaq Clearing today announced that Swedbank Robur, the largest Swedish fund manager, has started clearing of Interest Rate Swaps (IRS) through the clearing broker Swedbank. The OTC instruments available for clearing are Swedish Krona denominated Interest Rate Swaps, Overnight Index Swaps and Forward Rate Agreements.
“We are pleased to see new buy-side clients starting to clear IRS, especially since Swedbank Robur is one of the most active buy-side investors in the Nordics,” said Magnus Billing, Senior Vice President and Head of Nordic Fixed Income at Nasdaq. “We look forward to continuing to serve Swedbank Robur with our clearing services.”
Nasdaq plans to expand the service to also include Danish Krona, Norwegian Krona and Euro denominated instruments during 2015. Buy-side firms can access the OTC clearing service through approved OTC clearing members.
The total open interest in Interest Rate Swaps is over SEK 430 bn, making Nasdaq Clearing the third largest IRS clearinghouse in Europe.
“Whenever possible we seek to clear our derivative exposures,” said Peter Gustafsson, Head of Fixed Income at Swedbank Robur. “This strategy is primarily adopted by Swedbank Robur in an ongoing effort to reduce counterparty risk and increase operational efficiencies. We also see this as a pro-active step to becoming compliant with upcoming regulatory requirements.”
“This is a milestone for Swedbank’s clearing broker business,” said Magnus Olsson, Head of Client Clearing at Swedbank. “We started offering clearing broker services in 2013 and have since then been offering clearing of exchange traded derivatives to our clients. The addition of OTC rates clearing enhances Swedbank’s clearing offering and complements our existing product and service portfolio.”
“With new regulation being implemented, our customers will be able to trade efficiently and improve their performance,” said Jonas Pripp, Head of Institutional Clients at Swedbank.
