CME Clearing Europe, the London-based derivatives clearing house, is now accepting gold bouillon as collateral.
The firm says it has begun accepting gold due to high-quality collateral being at a premium now that an increasing number of regulators are requiring central clearing of OTC derivatives.
CME Clearing, the Chicago-based clearing house that is also part of the CME Group, has accepted gold to cover margin requirements since October 2009.
Launched in May 2011, CME Clearing Europe currently clears OTC commodity derivatives and has plans to introduce OTC interest rate swap clearing later this year.
Parent company CME Group also recently revealed plans to launch a London-based derivatives exchange.
(CG)