Deutsche Börse AG and European Central Counterparty NV (EuroCCP) have signed an agreement, which will govern the project for EuroCCP to gain access to the Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (FWB), the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

This solution provides self-clearing exchange members and clearing agents with a choice of CCP for cash equities traded on FWB. FWB will introduce EuroCCP as an additional CCP for cash equity and ETF trades executed on XETRA©, on a preferred CCP basis. It is anticipated that the go-live date will be in Q1 2019, subject to regulatory approval.

With the introduction of competition in the market, clearing services will become more efficient due to a reduction in clearing fees, cross-venue netting opportunities and the optimisation of operational processes.

Since its inception, EuroCCP has been an advocate of open access for the benefit of clearing and trading participants alike. Albert-Jan Huizing, CTO at EuroCCP said: "We have led the way in introducing multi-CCP clearing on the same trading platform. Arrangements based on interoperability or preferred-CCP-model have significantly reduced the all-in cost of trading and have been an essential driver of post-trade simplicity and efficiency".

In addition, further requests for trade feed access have been submitted to other exchanges. Currently, Oslo Børs is under implementation with a go-live date anticipated during Q3 2018, and Borsa Italiana and Euronext Dublin will follow during Q4 2018. Once these arrangements are in place, it is expected that there will be a choice of CCP for 95% of cash equity trades in Europe.