The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today announced its Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) subsidiary has successfully launched its enhanced Agent Clearing Service, as well as new capabilities to separate house and customer activity and margin segregation for those customers who elect to post margin to FICC, ahead of the March 31, 2025, deadline from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

While the SEC extended the deadlines for mandatory clearing of covered U.S. Treasury cash activity and repo activity, FICC continues to see solid growth, both in the onboarding of buyside and sell side institutions and in increased volumes in its Government Securities Division (GSD) as firms seek the capital efficiency and liquidity benefits that central clearing provides. Prior to the SEC’s proposed rule to expand central clearing of U.S. Treasury activity, FICC’s volumes were approximately $4.5T daily. When the SEC’s rule was finalized in December 2023, FICC’s volumes were approximately $7.2T daily. Now, FICC is clearing over $9T as a daily average and has experienced multiple daily peaks above $10T, including at the end of February when volumes topped $10.4T. 

Cleared buyside activity through FICC experienced an 85% year-over-year growth in FICC’s Sponsored Service in February, and a peak Sponsored volume over $2T at year end 2024. Use of FICC’s Sponsored Service provides the industry more than $700B each day in balance sheet capacity, and at the end of 2024, balance sheet savings across the industry through use of the Sponsored Service topped $900B. 

Notably, FICC estimates that it is already clearing nearly half of the outstanding Treasury repo covered by the SEC’s clearing requirement, with U.S. Money Market Funds already clearing approximately 46% of their covered U.S. Treasury repo activity through FICC today. FICC remains committed to delivering further enhancements to its Sponsored and Agent Clearing Services later in 2025 to further increase margin and capital efficiencies to attract the remainder of covered Treasury repo activity into central clearing at FICC. 

FICC also continues to see its client base diversify and expand. Through its enhanced Agent Clearing Service, FICC is supporting over 1,500 Executing Firm customers, including regional broker-dealers, asset managers and Principal Trading Firms. Participation in FICC’s Sponsored Service also continues to grow, with over 5,800 Sponsored Member relationships established to date.

“With the additional time granted by the SEC on the expanded clearing deadlines, FICC remains firmly committed to supporting the cleared U.S. Treasury market as it continues to evolve and grow, including by collaborating with the industry to roll out enhancements to FICC’s done-away capabilities for Treasury cash and repo activity,” stated Laura Klimpel, Managing Director, Head of DTCC’s Fixed Income and Financing Solutions. “The significant growth in membership and volumes is a testament to the value of central clearing with FICC, and we expect this growth to continue.”