LME Clear has designed a Secure Payment System (SPS), in collaboration with the Bank of England and Settlement Banks.
A clearing member must provide LME Clear with a mandate from one or more of the approved LME Clear Settlement Banks to allow LME Clear to access appropriate funds for margin and associated purposes. All members are required to have contingency payment arrangements in place.Members can associate any permutation of Standard Settlement Instructions (SSI)s to position accounts within the clearing system, giving them flexibility regarding their cash management. A member does not need separate accounts to fund house business separate from client business or even separate bank accounts for each Individual Segregated Account (ISA) – however, if that is a requirement, LME Clear can support it.
Members are able to manage their collateral (cash and non-cash) through the LME Clear GUI. A variety of drop down lists providing access to real time information regarding acceptable collateral is available to a member. Choosing the preferred form then creates the appropriate SWIFT instructions to transfer the cash/non-cash.
Margin will be called in US dollars, however, members can prefund their account in US dollars, euro, British pound sterling, Japanese yen, renminbi or any of the acceptable non-cash collateral. A variety of parameters are available to members and include the capability to utilise the auto-repay functionality as appropriate. LME Clear will call any outstanding fund including margin in British pound sterling on a US bank holiday.
About collateral management
Acceptable collateral
Collateral acceptable to cover margin liabilities must be highly liquid with low credit and market risk.
Haircut methodology
Our haircut methodology is designed to enable stable haircuts, avoid procyclicality and offer protection in stressed market conditions.
Secure payment system
The Secure Payment System (SPS) is operated by LME Clear and ensures the secure and timely transfer of funds between Clearing Members and the Clearing House.
Warrants as collateral
LME Clear has expanded its existing collateral service to Clearing Members to accept Warrants as Collateral against margin requirements.
Third-party suppliers
To support the delivery of clearing services, LME Clear utilises a combination of internal and third party resources.
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