Clearstream and Belfius have agreed to develop exclusively a new collateral management activity for bilateral trades, focusing on over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives and aimed primarily at corporates and medium-sized banks.
The deal is the latest in a number of strategic partnerships created by Clearstream as it extends its Global Liquidity Hub, a collateral management environment delivering worldwide services across borders, asset classes, time zones and products on an open architecture basis.
Clearstream will particularly target mid-sized banks and buy-side customers and will offer margin calls, dispute management, portfolio reconciliation, legal contract review and administration, payments and settlements reporting, a cash reinvestment mechanism and collateral transformation.
Stefan Lepp, head of Global Securities Financing at Clearstream, said this latest partnership reflects a welcome and important expansion of the Global Liquidity Hub that would deliver not only a new service to banks but also strengthen Clearstream’s offering to the corporate world in line with the growing demand in the OTC derivatives space.
“We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Belfius and to be expanding our service portfolio both to buy and sell-sides as collateral management is a priority right across our industry,” he said.
“With this unique service, we are able to address the growing pressure triggered by regulatory changes in the OTC derivatives world on a short time-to-market basis.”
Luc Van Thielen, COO at Belfius Bank, said: “This is the recognition, by a well-regarded market player, that Belfius has
robust collateral management processes in place. Especially in the changing context of EMIR, this partnership can be of real added value to the market for players active in the OTC derivative space.”
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