The Euroclear group reported another year of robust operating results in 2013. The operating highlights reinforce the strength of the group’s post-trade value proposition and underscore the support of its global client franchise in an increasingly regulated yet dynamic market landscape.
The key operating results for the group in 2013 are:
- The value of securities held on behalf of Euroclear clients grew by over EUR 1 trillion to a record EUR 24.2 trillion representing a 5% year-over year increas
- The number of netted transactions settled in the Euroclear group grew by 7.1% to a record 170.4 million
- Turnover, the value of securities transactions settled, was a record EUR 572.8 trillion, a 5.8% increase over prior year
- Overnight cash deposits increased by 17% to EUR 18.5 billion
- Euroclear’s Collateral Highway mobilised an average of EUR 787 billion of collateralised transactions daily, a 12% increase over prior year
- The value of funds serviced by FundSettle increased by 18% year-over-year and the volume of funds transactions processed by the group grew by 16% to reach 17.6 million. Fund orders routed through Euroclear UK and Ireland’s EMX Message System increased by 19.5% to a record 49 million messages in this period.
Tim Howell, Chief Executive Officer of the Euroclear group, said, “The market regards Euroclear to be a safe and resilient market infrastructure with the proven experience, agility and economies of scale to deliver operational efficiencies and develop markets locally and globally. We want to thank our clients for the business that they entrust with us, and look forward to doing more together as the industry continues to evolve.”
He added, “We are focused on maintaining market stability, delivering the regulation-driven initiatives in our core European franchise and investing in capabilities and services that extend value to our clients.”
In the past 12 months, Euroclear continued to expand the range of market participants that are able to connect to the Collateral Highway, further enhancing the industry-wide infrastructure which serves to ease collateral sourcing and mobilisation while providing improved transparency and asset protection for all participants on a global basis.
Euroclear also successfully addressed the operational inefficiencies in the way Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) are issued and settled in Europe by introducing an international ETF structure. By partnering with BlackRock to create an ETF structure that uses a single European settlement location, the market will benefit from improved trading liquidity, a reduction in operational risk and lower transaction costs for end investors.
Euroclear also helped make Russian government bonds (OFZs), as well as corporate and municipal bonds, more accessible to international investors by launching a service allowing them to settle their trades and deposit their bonds with Euroclear Bank. This ground-breaking partnership with Russia’s National Settlement Depository to improve market access and boost global participation contributed to a fivefold increase in foreign holdings of OFZs.