Greece CCP Gains Securities Lending Authorization

Greece’s clearing house, the Athens Exchange Clearing House (AthexClear), has gained authorization under the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) for securities lending.

The approval makes AthexClear the second clearer in Europe authorized to offer central counterparty (CCP) services for the securities lending market. Frankfurt-based Eurex Clearing was the first to be authorized for securities lending in April 2014.

AthexClear was also authorized to clear exchange-traded equity and debt securities, and exchange-traded currency and commodities and equity derivatives.

There has been evidence of growing use of post-trade infrastructure for securities lending, after Morgan Stanley became the first U.S. investment bank to become a member of Eurex Clearing’s securities lending CCP in October last year.

A key shift in acceptance of CCPs has been the growing realization of the benefits under Basel III and Dodd-Frank requirements, such as the Tier 1 Common Ratio, the Supplementary Leverage Ratio (SLR) and the Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR).