LCH’s development in 2025 centred on infrastructure investment, clearing efficiency and access to new markets. Activity grew across asset classes as more participants turned to central clearing to manage risk and funding demands.
Repurchase agreements, through which market participants borrow cash against securities, were a major area of development. LCH SA, the group’s continental European clearing entity, launched a new clearing platform for its RepoClear service during the review period and expanded settlement connectivity, including connectivity to Clearstream Europe. These changes formed part of a broader programme to improve the service’s operational resilience and efficiency.
The infrastructure investment accompanied growing activity. Across RepoClear, nominal volumes cleared reached a record €334 trillion in 2025, compared with €310 trillion in 2024, while trade sides cleared increased from 14.6 million to 15.2 million.
Participation also broadened. Euroclear Bank’s treasury division joined RepoClear at LCH SA in May 2025, gaining access to its liquidity pool and the efficiencies of netting and centralised risk management. It subsequently became active as a key cash provider in both the service’s specific security and general collateral repo segments, adding to the funding available through the platform.
Reducing settlement demands
Alongside investment in repo infrastructure, LCH addressed the operational and funding demands associated with FX settlement. In July, ForexClear, its FX derivatives clearing service, became the first central counterparty to go live on the redesigned CLSClearedFX service. This payment-versus-payment arrangement mitigates settlement risk by linking the settlement of the two currency payments.
In 2025, we achieved record clearing activity across our business lines, and continually enhanced our models for interest rate swaps, FX and repo
Susi de Verdelon
The redesigned model integrates cleared deliverable FX spot transactions, forwards and options into CLSSettlement. Bringing these payments into the same settlement infrastructure used for bilateral transactions removes separate workflows and fragmented liquidity requirements, creating funding efficiencies for clearing members and simplifying onboarding.
The focus on reducing post-trade obligations was also evident in equities. EquityClear, LCH’s equities clearing service, processed 1.5 billion trade sides during 2025, up 6% from 2024. A 99% compression rate reduced this to 15 million settlements. Its European reach expanded when Citic CLSA selected the service to clear its pan-European equities activity from the second quarter.
Broadening access and client choice
Growth in participation extended to credit derivatives. In May, Royal Bank of Canada became the first Canadian clearing member of CDSClear, LCH’s credit default swap clearing service. Joining as a market maker in European and US indices gave the bank access to the service’s growing liquidity pool and margin and operational efficiencies across its credit default swap portfolio.
Across CDSClear, client notional cleared increased by 130% to €2.27 trillion in 2025. Live client relationships increased from 232 to 254 by year-end, illustrating deeper customer participation alongside the expansion in clearing membership.
LCH also introduced a new structure for accessing interest rate swap clearing. Launched in November, the SwapClear Trust Model initially focused on UK-based clearing brokers. It uses trust arrangements to segregate client assets and improve brokers’ capital efficiency while preserving client choices and protections. Trust Model and existing Principal Model activities remain separate, including their risk management and asset pools during a default.
Extending clearing to digital asset derivatives
LCH extended its clearing infrastructure into digital assets in May with the launch of DigitalAssetClear at LCH SA. The dedicated service clears cash-settled Bitcoin index futures and options traded on GFO-X, a UK Financial Conduct Authority-regulated trading venue specialising in digital asset derivatives.
The launch followed regulatory approval in 2024 from French authorities and European supervisory bodies. It gave participants access to central clearing for these contracts, extending LCH’s risk management services to a new asset class through a regulated trading and clearing framework.
“Winning Europe’s best clearing house demonstrates our commitment to delivering innovative clearing services and robust risk management capabilities,” says Susi de Verdelon, CEO, LCH, LSEG. “In 2025, we achieved record clearing activity across our business lines, and continually enhanced our models for interest rate swaps, FX and repo to further generate capital and operational efficiencies for participants.”
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