Chris Tupker, Chairman of LCH.Clearnet Group, will step down in 2010 once a successor has been appointed.
Tupker took over from Gerard de la Martiniere in July 2006 after stepping down from the same position at Euroclear. He took the chair at Euroclear in March 2000, succeeding Sir Andrew Large. The turn of the millennium also saw the creation of Euroclear Bank, providing services previously contracted to Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York.
Prior to Euroclear, Tupker was chief operating officer at ABN AMRO Holdings NV’s investment bank, working at the company from 1988 to 2002 in London and Amsterdam. While at the bank, he represented ABN AMRO on the boards of CLS and Euroclear. Before 1988, Tupker worked for two decades at Scotia McLeod, a Canadian investment bank.
Tupker also helped finance the publication of Plumbers and Visionaries: Securities Settlement and Europe’s Financial Market by ex-FT correspondent Peter Norman.
Tupker developed forceful views on the shape of the European securities clearing and settlement infrastructure. He was an advocate of a merger between Euroclear and Cedel (later Clearstream), and a leading influence in the creation and subsequent development of the European Securities Forum (ESF), a club of London-based investment banks (and clients of Euroclear) that acted as the arms length mouthpiece of the Horizontalist strategy pursued by Euroclear against the Verticalist strategy of Deutsche Brse. The ESF later argued for a single European CCP, of which it was once hoped the merger of LCH and Clearnet would provide the kernel, and Tupker left Euroclear earlier than planned to take the chair at LCH.Clearnet in July 2006, after CEO David Hardy was forced to take the rap for a failed IT project. One of his first moves at LCH.Clearnet, in keeping with his Horizontalist philosophy, was to buy out the stake held by Euronext. Euroclear retains a shareholding in LCH.Clearnet which it is widely believed to have used to block the merger with DTCC. The belief of Tupker that exchange consolidation would lead to a matching consolidation at the clearing and settlement levels remains unfulfilled. Indeed, his vision was overtaken by the development of the MTFs, whose rapid success owed much to their use of competing CCPs.
In recent times, Tupker has appeared increasingly lukewarm on approaches from DTCC and a consortium led by ICAP to merge with LCH.Clearnet, with the DTCC merger hitting the rocks despite initial enthusiasm from both parties. According to an LCH.Clearnet spokesperson, an announcement regarding the future of LCH.Clearnet will be announced over the next few weeks.
A member of the Hurlingham Club, Tupker is unlikely to remain sheltered from the Benelux banking scene in retirement; BNP Paribas Fortis sponsor an annual tennis tournament at the Fulham-based retreat.
Tupker holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours in Political Science and Economics from the University of Toronto in Canada.
Giles TurnerNews Editor