BoE backs away from mandatory gilt clearing

Discussions with industry shift to portfolio-based repo haircuts and ways to encourage voluntary clearing

Mandatory clearing of gilt cash and repo trades has fallen off the agenda of industry roundtables at the Bank of England. Now, talk aimed at strengthening the UK government bond market is focusing instead on portfolio-based haircuts for bilateral repo and methods to promote voluntary clearing.

The shift could leave the UK on a different path from the US, where mandatory clearing of Treasury cash