Citi Wins Japan Third Party Clearing Mandate
Citibank Japan Ltd. (CJL)’s Securities Services, a division of securities and fund services of Global Transaction Services (GTS), has been appointed by Interactive Brokers Securities Japan (IBSJ) to provide third party clearing services in Japan. With immediate effect, CJL will provide third party clearing services for IBSJ’s Japanese equities trades on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).
By using the platform in Japan, CJL says that IBSJ will not have to develop and implement any local clearing and settlement presence in the country. CJL will handle all of IBSJ’s clearing and settlement obligations in this market and will implement a linkage to Japan Securities Depository Centre (JASDEC), Japan’s central securities depository, as required by local regulations.
The appointment of CJL for third party clearing services in Japan follows Interactive Brokers’ 2008 acquisition of Japan’s Moriai Securities, a fully-licensed broker-dealer, which was subsequently renamed IBSJ. After completing the acquisition IBSJ has been heavily focused on its trading strategies, deciding to leverage Citi’s third party clearing experience after close examination of developments in the custody and clearing space in Japan.
By servicing IBSJ’s Japanese equities with its leading third party clearing services, Citi will look to expand the relationship with the client in additional Asia-Pacific markets. As of April 2010, Citi provides on exchange clearing services including collaboration with exchanges through account operator and third party clearing services in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.