The European Association of Central Counterparty Clearing Houses (EACH) re-elects Ann Flodström OMX as Chairman

The European Association of Central Counterparty Clearing Houses (EACH) has re-elected Ann Flodström of OMX to serve a third year as Chairman. Ann Flodström is Senior Vice President of Derivatives Operations, OMX. She will be succeeded on 1 January 2008 by Rory Cunningham, Director, Strategy at LCH. Clearnet Group. Elected also were members of the Executive Committee to serve with Ann Flodström, and Rory Cunningham: Danilo Battistelli, CC&G Cassa di Compensazione e Garanzia S.p.A. and Orlando Chiesa, Eurex Zurich AG.

“We will continue the work we have initiated in the last two years to make cross-border clearing and settlement activities more efficient as well as ensuring that the evolving discussions on clearing and settlement in and around Europe are fully informed,” says Ann Flodström OMX.

“As the voice in Europe for central counterparty clearing, EACH has played an important role in shaping the future of Europe's post-trade infrastructure. The Code of Conduct, in particular, has been a major achievement for exchanges, clearing houses and central securities depositories, and I look forward to continuing work with colleagues in EACH and the related associations FESE and ECSDA once it has been fully adopted,” says Rory Cunningham.

An organization for the collaboration of central counterparties, EACH aims to develop and publish, as appropriate, normative standards of clearing and risk management as well as maintain coordination with, for example, other associations such as ECSDA (European Central Securities Depositories Association) and FESE (Federation of European Securities Exchanges) as regards positions on proposed European and global regulatory initiatives relative to central counterparty clearing.

In 2006, the members of EACH, FESE and ECSDA introduced the Code of Conduct to enhance competition and better enable trades to be cleared and settled across borders within a consistent, coherent and cost efficient framework.

EACH’s focus in 2007 will be on implementation of the Code of Conduct including setting guidelines and principles for access and interoperability by June 30 and, by the end of the year, unbundling and account separation by the exchanges, clearing houses and CSDs that have signed the Code of Conduct. With a total of fourteen members today, EACH's participants include senior executives specialising in clearing and risk management from European CCPs (including Switzerland, Norway and Serbia).