Market utilities

The Board of Directors of LCH.Clearnet Group Limited today announces that Chris Tupker will step down as chairman of the Group and its subsidiary company LCH.Clearnet Limited in 2010 when a new chairman has been appointed.

A search committee has been formed and the Board hopes to announce the appointment of the new Chairman by the end of 2009.

Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT) and Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Inc. (TOCOM) announced that TT has connected its X_TRADER® derivatives trading platform to TOCOM. TT began supporting live trading on TOCOM when the exchange launched its new trading and clearing system from The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. on May 7. The TT gateway is already deployed and in use at more than a dozen customer sites.

DTCC to Seek Other Strategic Alternatives

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and LCH.Clearnet Group, Ltd. have been working toward completing the due diligence necessary to finalize an agreement for their proposed merger since the announcement of a Heads of Terms in October 2008. In December 2008, LCH.Clearnet terminated the exclusivity agreement to permit it to enter into dialogue with another party. DTCC’s intent, however, was that the merger as envisioned would still be consummated and accordingly, DTCC continued to complete its due diligence on a non-exclusive basis.

Both the Japan Securities Clearing Corp and Tokyo Financial Exchange are gearing up to launch central clearing for interest-rate and credit default swaps next year. The market utilities have been ironing out the details of the infrastructure build, investment and other details in recent months while also conducting studies. The announcement raises questions among industry participants globally.

On March 27th, 2009, the Study Group on Post-Trade Processing of OTC Derivatives Trades in Japan has published a report entitled Report on Improvements of Post-Trade Processing of OTC Derivatives Trades in Japan. The referential translation of the report is available at JSCC web site.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and LCH.Clearnet Group (LCH.Clearnet) today jointly announce that they have signed non-binding heads of terms regarding the proposed merger of the two companies. The merger proposal aims to create the world’s leading clearing house, which would operate a user-owned, user-governed model, with LCH.Clearnet moving to an at-cost based structure comparable to DTCC’s within three years.