Quantile Optimises Eight New Currency Pairs at ForexClear
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: April 28, 2021
Optimisation service provider Quantile Technologies says it has become the first vendor to offer optimisation of cleared USD/CAD, USD/DKK, USD/MXN, USD/NOK, USD/NZD, USD/SEK, USD/SGD and USD/ZAR non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) within its initial margin (IM) optimisation runs for FX.
The firm says preliminary runs saw it successfully incorporate five of the new currency pairs offered by LCH’s ForexClear, delivering increased capital and margin benefits for clients.
The extension of Quantile’s offering to include these new cleared currency pairs bolsters its suite of optimisation services which are designed to reduce risk and the cost of funding initial margin. The service reduces initial margin postings across multiple asset classes by over $10billion on average and can optimise cleared and uncleared portfolios simultaneously for FX and interest rates.
Initial runs have seen three market participants, including Goldman Sachs, optimise five of the eight new currency pairs cleared at LCH. Quantile says it expects additional participants to include the full breadth of cleared currencies as part of their optimisation runs going forward.
“We were pleased to see the speed with which the additional cleared currency pairs were incorporated into Quantile’s optimisation runs, following their launch at LCH ForexClear,” says Jessica Bateson, executive director at Goldman Sachs. “We actively seek to participate in solutions that aid greater risk reduction across both sell-side and buy-side communities, and believe that cleared FX optimisation, together with increased industry participation in these runs, will drive new levels of efficiency.”
Varqa Abyaneh, chief product officer at Quantile, adds, “We believe optimisation and clearing are complementary to one another. Clearing houses are one of the most efficient places to hold risk, and our optimisation engine continues to seek out efficiencies which free up scarce capital and reduce the costs of trading for our clients. By adding these new cleared currencies, clients benefit from increased netting opportunities which enables us to deliver enhanced risk and IM reduction.”
Meanwhile, Ankeet Dedhia, Americas head of product, ForexClear, LCH, says, “We are seeing a continued growing global demand for OTC FX clearing and have worked with the market to expand LCH’s cleared offering to a broad range of FX derivatives. Optimisation services are an important part of the post trade process and complement the benefits of clearing in delivering increased capital, margin and operational efficiencies to market participants globally.”