Overview
Sponsored Clearing extends the benefits of direct CCP membership to the buy-side community. By inviting member banks to sponsor buy-side direct access to the CCP, LCH provides an innovative way to enhance existing clearing relationships, while generating operational efficiencies for all participants.
Sponsored Clearing seeks to ease the pressure on bank balance sheets by delivering superior capital and margin efficiencies for our membership. This is achieved in part through enhanced netting opportunities in RepoClear Ltd and RepoClear SA.
What is a Sponsored Member?
Sponsored Members join under a membership category that allows buy-side firms to enjoy the full benefits of clearing through LCH. This creates a direct transactional relationship between LCH and the Sponsored Member, making LCH the counterparty to each cleared trade. Sponsored Members are supported by an Agent Member (sponsoring bank) that facilitates margin payments (as paying agent) and provides default fund contributions for each sponsored transaction
Opportunities for all
As LCH expands the breadth of its membership, multilateral netting through RepoClear will increasingly provide superior balance sheet, settlement and risk reductions to our members. By helping manage capital costs and simplifying operational workflows, Sponsored Clearing can free up capital and increase trading capacity.
The potential benefits of Sponsored Clearing
For Agent Members (sponsoring banks):
Increased balance sheet optimization and capital efficiencies
Opportunities for enhanced customer relationships through the provision of agent services
Reduced liquidity risks
For Sponsored Members:
Increased bank capacity for Sponsored Member activity resulting from capital savings
Reduced bilateral credit risk and default exposures
Increased operational efficiencies, with settlement netting leading to a reduction in intra-day liquidity requirements
World-class risk management
Roles and responsibilities
The Sponsored Clearing model splits the traditional responsibilities of a clearing member between the Sponsored Member and its sponsoring Agent Member.
Sponsored Member responsibilities
1. LCH relationship
Act as the direct counterparty of LCH for each cleared trade
2. Trade settlement
Settle directly with LCH, or through their custodian/settlement agent. The Agent Member does not guarantee performance.
3. Margin liability
Post margin payments to the CCP, facilitated by their Agent Member
Agent Member responsibilities
1. Default fund contributions / waterfall
Provide Default Fund Contributions
2. Agent resources
Deliver an additional pre-funded resource to the Sponsored Member’s default waterfall and a buffer for margin cover
3. Margin management
Facilitate the payment of the Sponsored Member’s margins in a paying agent capacity via its PPS account
Who can join?
Sponsored membership is currently open to pension funds, regulated investment funds, insurance companies, government entities, regulated UCITS and credit institutions, subject to jurisdictional eligibility for all these entities; please contact us for further details.
The Sponsored Clearing model may also be extended to other entities in due course, subject to necessary internal governance requirements and regulatory approval.
To find out how to become a Sponsored Member, contact us today at repoclearmembershipsales@lch.com.
Netting benefits
Members’ netting opportunities increase as Sponsored Member transactions are cleared, making LCH the counterparty to each trade. The Agent Member role is not restricted to the executing counterparty of the original trade.
Contact us
If you'd like to know more about how we can help you, please get in touch.