The most important moment of any stock market trade is when payment and asset are exchanged. Both buyer and seller need to be sure the other party will honour their side of the deal – and this is where companies like Euroclear step in as a trusted intermediary we take both payment and asset, and transfer ownership on behalf of each side. This makes the settlement process much quicker and more secure. Which means the world’s financial institutions are able to react faster, strike more complex deals and trade in more places at once.
Euroclear is the world’s largest provider of domestic and cross-border settlement and related services for bond, equity, derivatives and fund transactions. User owned and user governed, the Euroclear group comprises Euroclear Bank, based in Brussels, as well as Euroclear Belgium, Euroclear France, Euroclear Nederland and Euroclear UK & Ireland. Euroclear also owns EMXCo, the UK’s leading provider of investment-fund order routing. Euroclear has signed an agreement to acquire NCSD, comprising the Finnish and Swedish central securities depositories. The total value of securities transactions settled by the Euroclear group in 2007 was in excess of EUR 560 trillion per annum, while assets held for clients were valued at more than EUR 19 trillion. Euroclear Bank is rated AA+ by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings.