Financial Clearinghouse in Banking and how it works

Financial Clearinghouse is an important topic in the stock market since they serve as the middleman. By reading this post, you will not only understand the concept of a financial clearinghouse but will also get the know the types of financial clearinghouses like; Futures Exchanges Clearinghouses, and Stock Market Clearinghouses. We will also discuss the different financial clearinghouse transactions.

The Overview of a Clearinghouse:

A clearinghouse is an intermediary between buyers and sellers of financial instruments. It is an agency or separate corporation of a futures exchange responsible for settling trading accounts, clearing trades, collecting and maintaining margin monies, regulating delivery, and reporting trading data.

Stock Market and Futures Exchanges as types of financial clearinghouse. — Clearinghouse as an Intermediary

More about ClearingHouse

Each side of a deal is represented by a clearinghouse, which takes the opposing position. They work as a middleman for both parties when two investors agree on the terms of a financial transaction, such as the purchase or selling of securities.

The goal of a clearinghouse is to increase market efficiency while also ensuring the financial system’s stability.

The Clearinghouse in the Futures Market

Because the futures market’s financial products can be intricate and require a stable intermediary; it’s most usually connected with a clearinghouse. There is a clearinghouse for each futures exchange. An exchange’s whole membership at the end of each trading week; must clear their trades through the clearinghouse.

Clearinghouse Example In Futures

Let’s say a trader buys a future contract. Immediately, the initial and maintenance margin would be set by the clearinghouse.

The initial margin can be a strong reason that the trader can afford to hold the trade till the trade is closed. The clearing firm holds the fund within the trader’s account, and it cant be used for other trades. The reason is to offset any losses the trader may incur in the transaction.

The maintenance margin is usually a fraction of the initial margin requirement. The amount is to be made available in the trader’s account to keep the trade open. When the trader’s account equity drop below the threshold, the account owner will receive a margin call stating that the account is reloaded to the level that satisfies the initial margin requirements.

The trader account will be closed if the trader fails to meet the margin call because the account cannot withstand further losses.

in this example, the clearinghouse would ensure there is enough money in the account to cover any losses the account holder may experience in the trade. Immediately the trade is closed, the remaining margin funds will be released to the trader.

This process has helped reduced default risk. The absence of this can make one party back out of the agreement or fail to pay the money owed at the end of the transaction.

Clearinghouses In Stock Market

To fund an ongoing trade, Stock exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE); through their clearing division ensure that the stock trader has enough money in the account. The clearing division acts as the middle man here by making sure problem doesn’t arise during the stock exchange

The clearing divisions make sure each investor receives their money when they sell stock.

Financial ClearingHouses

Definition of a Clearing House?

A clearinghouse can be defined as an intermediary between buyers and sellers of financial instruments. It is a separate corporation of a futures exchange with responsibilities such as; settling trading accounts, clearing trades, collecting and maintaining margin funds, regulating delivery, and reporting trading data.

Role and Function of a Financial Clearinghouse

A clearinghouse does not take a side with the trades rather, they take the opposite position of each side of the trade. A clearinghouse acts as a middle man when two investors agree to the terms of a financial transaction; such as the purchase or sales of security. Therefore we can see that a clearinghouse has two basic roles to play in the market which are; improving the efficiency of the markets and adding stability to the financial system.

The futures market has a strong connection with a clearinghouse because of the complications in its financial products; and stable intermediary requirements. Every futures exchange has its own clearinghouse. At the end of each trading session, all members of an exchange clear their trades through the clearinghouse. The members also deposit a sum of money that is enough to clear their debit balance to the clearinghouse.

Financial Clearinghouse Examples

There are two major clearing houses in the US: The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ. The NYSE facilitates the trading of stock, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and derivatives. As a clearinghouse, it acts as the middle-man in an auction market; which allows brokers and other investors to buy and sell securities to people by matching the highest bidding price to the lowest selling price. Unlike the NASDAQ, The NYSE has a physical trading floor.

National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) a subsidiary of the Depositary Trust Clearing House Corporation (DTCC); was established in 1976. They provide clearing, settling, risk management, and central counterparty services to mention but a few. NSCC also nets trades and payments among its participants, reducing the value of payments that need exchanging by an average of 98% each day. The US. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulates the activities of the NSCC.

Options Clearing Corporation (OCC); a US. clearinghouse based in Chicago specializes in equity derivatives. It also provides counterparty (CCP) clearing and settlement services to 15 exchanges. Its instrument include options, financial and commodity futures, security futures, and securities lending transactions. The OCC like other clearinghouses acts as a guarantor between parties to fulfill the obligation of their contract. They move billions of dollars daily and hold $100 billion of collateral deposited by clearing members. There was a total of 4.17 billion cleared contract volume in 2016; being the fifth-highest annual total in OCC’s history.

More Info about Clearinghouse

A clearinghouse in the financial market is an intermediary between buyers and sellers who trade securities. The clearinghouse has a duty to validate and finalize transactions by ensuring that buyers and sellers honor any contractual obligation they have.

Let’s further examine what a financial clearinghouse is, how it works, and what types of transactions it may manage.

The Examples and Definition of a Financial Clearinghouse

Financial clearinghouses unlike stock market clearinghouse are intermediaries between those who buy and sell financial instruments. Clearinghouse is made up of an agency of a futures exchange and is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Futures exchanges are responsible for things like; settling stock trading accounts, clearing trades, collecting and maintaining margin monies, regulating delivery, and reporting trading data.

Financial clearinghouses take on a variety of responsibilities, including:

The clearing or Finalising of trades.
The settling of trading accounts.
To ensure assets reach the purchaser
Report of trading data
Collection of margin payments
Acting as third parties for options and futures contracts

The Work Financial Clearinghouse

The sellers and buyers execute their trade before a clearinghouse starts acting. The clearinghouse finalizes and then validates the transaction being the middle-man in the financial trade.

Clearinghouses play a key role in maintaining the stability of a financial market by taking the opposing position for each trade. This, therefore, reduces the risks and costs that come with settling multiple transactions across different parties.

The National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) is one of the bodies that oversee the following responsibilities for most broker-broker trades.

managing risk
Settlement
Clearing
Central counterparty services
Guaranty of completion for certain transactions

Let’s take a look at an example that will help us understand a clearinghouse as a middle-man in financial trades. Assuming you sell shares of stock you own, you need to make sure that the money from the financial transaction gets to you. A financial clearinghouse will make sure that the above happens; by confirming that the stock trader purchasing the stocks has enough money in their account before placing orders.

Different Kind of Financial Clearinghouse Transactions

There are two kinds of clearinghouses: stock market and futures exchanges.

Stock Market Clearinghouses

Stock exchanges have a need for a Clearinghouse; this is to ensure that traders’ funds are available in their accounts to complete the trade. By taking on this middleman role, the clearinghouse can smoothly facilitate the transfer of stocks and money between the two parties.

For example, the popular investing app Robinhood makes use of a clearinghouse. It takes two days for the clearinghouse to record the trade, then transfer the stock to the buyer, and finally transfer the funds to the seller. This type of clearing and settling is known as “T+2”—the trade date plus two days to settle.

Futures Exchanges Clearinghouses

Financial products in the futures market have leverage. They depend wholely on the clearinghouse to act as a stable intermediary so they can be able to invest. Every futures exchange have their own clearinghouses, and their members must clear their trades through the clearinghouse.

Comparing Clearinghouses vs exchanges

Clearinghouse	Exchange
An agency that generally oversees a marketplace for trading securities.	Exchange is a marketplace for trading securities.
They Help to execute trades that takes place at the exchange.	this is where tradeactually take place.
They may have a physical trading floor, and may also be strictly electronic.	They May also have a physical trading floor, and alsobe strictly electronic.

You can easily get confuse with clearinghouses and exchanges, but they both serve different purposes. A clearinghouse overseas marketplaces. An exchange is a central marketplace where both buyers and sellers meet to trade securities like futures and options contracts. The Both may have a physical trading floor (such as the NYSE) or can be electronic (like the Nasdaq). The clearinghouse is the middleman that assists in execution of a trade between the buyers and sellers at the exchange.

There are rules and regulations that are set to place for businesses to follow so they can appear on the exchange. For e.g, a business must have upto 1.1 million public shares before they can appear on the NYSE.

see the list of things to also learn:

Definition of Clearinghouse in Banking and how it works (Examples of Clearinghouse)