OTC earthquake shaking up futures clearing

Clearing rules for over-the-counter derivatives are prompting buy-side firms to revisit long-standing futures clearing relationships, with some customers choosing to house both sets of business in the same place. Big swaps players say this hands them the advantage – but their futures rivals are not so sure. Tom Osborn reports

Jerome Kemp, Citi

Like any earthquake, the advent of mandatory clearing in over-the-counter derivatives markets is shaking a lot of other things up as well, including the futures clearing landscape. As clients go looking for a firm to handle their OTC business, many are also reviewing their choice of listed derivatives clearers – a rare event for relationships that can date back a decade or more – because of cost, operating and margin efficiencies that may be attainable when clearing both types of business with a