Policymakers, researchers, and practitioners discuss the role of central counterparties
Douglas D. Evanoff, Daniela Russo, Robert Steigerwald
Central counterparties (CCPs) are structures that help facilitate the clearing and settlement process in financial markets. They have long been utilized in the derivatives markets, more recently have been adopted in cash securities markets, and currently are experiencing a growing interest in a further expansion of their use. Typical examples of CCPs in the U.S. include the clearinghouses for the derivatives markets in Chicago— the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Clearing House, the Options Clearing Corporation, and the Clearing Corporation.1 Examples in the European Union include LCH.Clearnet and Eurex Clearing. A more comprehensive, but non-exhaustive, list of U.S. and European central counterparties, with characteristics of each arrangement, is included in Bliss and Papathanassiou (2006) and reproduced in appendix 1.
