LCH SwapAgent Implements Murex

Murex’s MX.3 platform to provide valuation, margining and trade processing services for all bilateral trades processed by LCH SwapAgent

PARIS, July 13, 2017 — Murex, the global leader in trading, risk management and processing solutions for capital markets, announces that LCH SwapAgent has selected its MX.3 platform. This new service for the non-cleared derivatives market will use Murex technology for trade processing, valuation, margining and member reporting.

In response to the implementation of bilateral margin rules for non-cleared OTC Derivatives, LCH SwapAgent aims to improve efficiencies in the bilateral OTC market by eliminating disputes when establishing the value of a trade. Rather than each bank using internal models to compute trade valuation and margins, they post the trade in LCH SwapAgent and use the valuation models of a shared analytics platform, Murex, to receive a common valuation, sensitivities and margin.

LCH SwapAgent uses Murex’s analytics models to run pricing and compute sensitivities that establish the common trade valuation. For each trade processed by LCH SwapAgent, the Murex platform calculates the variation margin and generates sensitivities that contribute to the overall margin requirement for each party, eliminating pricing disputes in anticipation of the regulatory overhaul.

Already established providers of the underlying technology for LCH’s SwapClear and ForexClear services, Murex manages peak volumes in excess of 30,000 trades per day and has supported their growth as they have scaled-up globally.

Nathan Ondyak, global head of LCH SwapAgent, said: “LCH SwapAgent aims to increase the efficiency of non-cleared derivatives trading by extending the standardization of clearing infrastructure to the bilateral OTC market without requiring novation to a central counterparty or a change to the underlying trade terms. We are pleased to be working with Murex to allow our customers to benefit from an efficient way to eliminate disputes and materially improve standardization and simplicity in this space.”

“Establishing a fair and accurate valuation is vitally important for the LCH SwapAgent service” said Dania Fakredin-Viatte, Murex U.K. managing director. “LCH SwapAgent has selected Murex to provide these crucial analytics due to the scalability of the system, the powerful native models for pricing and valuation, and comprehensive coverage for non-linear products. As we begin this new chapter in a successful partnership, we look forward to providing even greater value to LCH SwapAgent and its members.”