The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and Euroclear have set up a joint venture that will leverage their expertise, technology and franchises, focusing on collateral processing. The newly-created company, DTCC-Euroclear Global Collateral, will be domiciled in the UK, and its operations are subject to regulatory approvals.

 

Ownership and governance of the joint venture company will be shared equally between DTCC and Euroclear with its board and senior executives drawn from the two firms’ management.  Michael Shipton, Euroclear managing director and head of corporate technology, will assume the role of chief executive officer of DTCC-Euroclear Global Collateral with Mark Jennis, DTCC’s managing director, strategy and business development, assuming the role of executive chairman.

 

In addition to Shipton and Jennis, the joint venture company’s board will include Euroclear’s Jo Van de Velde, managing director and head of product management; and Mei Li Powell, managing director and head of communications, marketing and CSR; along with DTCC’s Peter Axilrod, managing director and head of corporate strategy and business development; and Andrew Douglas, managing director and head of government relations for Europe and Asia.

 

The joint venture will bring to market a margin transit utility (MTU) and collateral management utility (CMU).  The MTU will provide straight-through processing of margin obligation settlement, leveraging current DTCC infrastructure, as well as additional infrastructure currently in development in coordination with the industry.  Industry testing of the MTU is scheduled to begin in mid-2015. The CMU will address the global challenge of sub-optimal collateral allocation and mobility, through utilizing Euroclear’s Collateral Highway, and will follow the launch of the MTU.  

 

Euroclear chief executive officer Tim Howell said: “The creation of this joint venture company will deliver to our clients increased efficiency and reduced costs within the highly-fragmented and complex collateral management industry.  Firms within the post-trade world span multiple countries, if not continents.  This strategic partnership with DTCC will play a leading role in addressing the challenge of efficiently allocating and mobilizing capital across the globe.”

 

DTCC president and CEO Michael Bodson added: “This joint venture reflects DTCC’s and Euroclear’s commitment to delivering global solutions that help safeguard the stability of the financial markets. The company will play a critical role in helping the industry address capital and operational challenges resulting from the vastly increased volume and velocity of margin movements worldwide that are anticipated under regulations promulgated by financial reform legislation such as Dodd-Frank and EMIR.”

 

The joint venture will operate open architecture services thereby facilitating access to other central securities depositories, custodians and settlement agents.