CME Group and DTCC to enhance existing cross-margining arrangement, extending benefits to end users by December 2025
Leading derivatives marketplace CME Group, and The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today confirmed plans to expand their existing cross-margining arrangement to provide increased margin savings and capital efficiencies to end users by December 2025.
Subject to regulatory approval, this proposed enhancement to the long-standing CME-DTCC cross-margining arrangement will allow eligible end user clients at CME Group and the Government Securities Division (GSD) of DTCC’s Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) to access capital efficiencies that are available when trading U.S. Treasury securities and CME Group interest rate futures that have offsetting risk exposures. To participate in end-user cross margining, clients will need to leverage the same dually registered Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) and broker/dealer (as registered with the SEC) at both CCPs. Aligning enhanced cross-margining for end-user customers with the regulatory timeline for expanded U.S. Treasury Clearing requirements encourages greater utilization of central clearing, therefore reducing systemic risk.
“Bringing the benefits of cross-margining to the end-user is a critical step in enhancing capital efficiencies across U.S. Treasury market participants,” said Laura Klimpel (pictured), Managing Director and Head of DTCC’s Fixed Income and Financing Solutions. “Our ongoing collaboration with CME Group remains focused on extending cross-margin benefits to more customer accounts and eventually, to other products. Doing so will enable even greater efficiency, cost reduction, improved liquidity and increased risk management in the U.S. Treasury markets.”
“Extending our cross-margining agreement to client accounts is an important milestone in our efforts to make U.S. Treasury markets more efficient for all market users,” said Suzanne Sprague, CME Group Chief Operating Officer and Global Head of Clearing and Post-Trade Services. “Building on more than 20 years of partnership, we look forward to working with DTCC and regulators to deliver even greater benefits to both cash and futures market participants.”
Under the proposed arrangement, FICC will designate cross-margin accounts, allowing all eligible positions in the account to offset with eligible CME Group interest rate futures. CME Group will allow participants to direct futures to end-user cross-margin accounts throughout the day, thereby making them available for offset in the cross-margin arrangement. Ahead of the regulatory approvals, end-users can work to set up a new account, complete proper program legal documentation and test end-to-end workflows.
