Financial Times: Société Générale to set up Brexit clearing hedge in Paris

10 December 2018

Société Générale, the French bank, will open a legal entity in Paris by the end of the year for EU customers to clear their derivatives trades, amid uncertainty over the legal status of the contracts after the UK leaves the bloc next March.

SocGen, one of the biggest middleman in derivatives markets, currently books clients’ futures and swaps via London. It will keep its UK operations, but set up a parallel unit so customers can choose to use either hub.

Its move underscores concern among European banks over the impact of Brexit on their clearing operations, even though both sides have provisionally agreed a political withdrawal deal. ABN Amro, the Dutch bank, has applied for UK licences to guarantee it can access the country’s critical market plumbing after Brexit.

SocGen’s new Paris clearing entity has applied for memberships of exchanges, trading venues and clearing houses in the EU, such as Deutsche Börse’s Eurex, Nasdaq OMX and LCH in Paris. A spokesperson for SocGen said that was in response to customer demands. [...]

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