Clearstream and Consort1 Partner to Expand Repo Market Access with Secured Deposit Service

Clearstream, a leading European provider of post-trade services which is wholly owned by Deutsche Börse, and Consort1, a repo and securities lending-specialised fintech, facilitated the placement of secured deposits as tri-party custody agent. The placement was done in collaboration with Standard Chartered Bank, NatWest, Alpha Group, BankClarity, and Arlingclose, with Gloucestershire County Council being one of the first adopters of this new service among UK local authorities.

Secured deposits provide numerous advantages, including the chances to diversify investment portfolios and full collateralisation of the cash deposit with government bonds, corporate bonds, or other securities to mitigate the financial risk during a bank failure. This means, even if the bank were to fail, the cash depositors’ funds would be secured up to the value of collateral held with Clearstream as tri-party custody agent for the depositor.

"Clearstream’s best-in-class custody solution adds highest liquidity and security for stable cash to help our bank clients better manage their regulatory liquidity requirements," said Marton Szigeti, Head of Collateral, Lending and Liquidity Solutions at Clearstream. "We are delighted to be working closely with the Consort1 team to deliver the benefits of tri-party to a segment of clients that would previously have been excluded from the market."

"We are proud and truly honoured to be working with Clearstream to bring the repo and collateralised secured deposit service to institutions that have not been able to access this before," said Justin Clapham, co-founder and CEO of Consort1. "Along with our global partners, we are thrilled to be at the forefront of this innovation in the financial industry."

Clearstream places a strong emphasis on the collateral management business. Last month, the company and the Canadian exchange operator TMX Group​ announced plans to launch an automated Canadian Collateral Management Service (CCMS) featuring Canada's first domestic triparty repo capability. In March, Clearstream had launched the Collateral Mapper​, a new data-based solution to optimize collateral management.