SIX x-clear, the clearing arm of SIX Securities Services, has been recognised by ESMA as a third-country central counterparty (CCP) under EMIR, the EU regulatiuon on derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories

The milestone frees the firm, an affiliate of the Swiss stock exchange, to continue providing cross-border clearing services in the EU and chase new international business.

Switzerland is not a member of the EU, so SIX x-clear as a third country (non-EU) CCP needs to be recognised by ESMA to offer its cash equity, ETF and fixed income clearing services to EU customers.

The approval follows an announcement in November 2015 by the European Commission recognising Switzerland’s supervision of CCPs as being equivalent.

FINMA, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, described the recognition of equivalence as an important step towards ensuring effective, supervision of central counterparties.

Securities watchdog EMSA approved SIX x-clear’s application yesterday, the final step in what’s been a three year authorization process.

 “This is excellent news,” said Thomas Zeeb, division chief executive of SIX Securities Services.

“Though this decision has taken a long time to come through, it vindicates our position that our risk-models, our processes and our ability to provide competitive services across Europe are amongst the best available.”