Euroclear is a financial services company based in Brussels, Belgium, specialising in the settlement of securities transactions and the safekeeping and asset servicing of these securities.
It was founded in 1968 as part of J.P. Morgan & Co. to settle trades on the then-developing euro bond market.
Euroclear is one of two principal securities clearing houses in the Eurozone. Euroclear specializes in verifying information supplied by brokers involved in a securities transaction and the settlement of securities transacted on European exchanges.
The other principal European clearing house is Clearstream, formerly the Centrale de Livraison de Valeurs Mobilières (CEDEL).
A clearing house is a financial institution that acts as an intermediary between buyers and sellers of financial instruments who take the opposite position on each side of a trade, acting as the buyer to the seller and the seller to the buyer.
Euroclear is the world’s most influential clearinghouse that settles and clears securities trades on European exchanges.
Euroclear also functions as a central securities depository (CSD), a custodian for major financial institutions involved in European markets.
In addition to stock trades, Euroclear handles orders in fixed-income securities and derivatives.
Euroclear is one the oldest settlement systems and was initially subsidised by Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York, which was a part of J.P. Morgan & Co. It was founded in 1968 to settle trades on the then-developing Eurobond market.
Euroclear computerised settlement and deposit system helped ensure Eurobonds‘ safe delivery and payment. In 2000, Morgan Guaranty Trust transferred these activities to Euroclear Bank.
Euroclear is publicly owned and governed. Between 2001 and 2007, the firm acquired Sivocam, France’s central securities depository (CSD), CIK and Necigef, the CSDs of Belgium and the Netherlands, and CrestCo, the CSD for Irish equities and all U.K. securities.
Euroclear mission and values
Euroclear mission is to support an open marketplace where scale and connectivity across the spectrum of market participants are competitive strengths.
The company is committed to investing to support market stability, deliver shared economies of scale and develop markets locally and globally.
It serves the public good by ensuring the efficiency of markets and actively enabling the reduction of risk.
At the same time, Euroclear encourages a high performing culture that respects its corporate values through a diverse and dedicated workforce worldwide.
Its corporate values are encapsulated in the word REACH, which stands for: Respect, Effective, Accountable, Client-first, and Helpful.
Future development in the financial services industry
In recent years, Euroclear acquired innovative fintech and launched new products/services – among the others Goji, Greenomy, MFEX (ETFx), Fnality, Quantessence, GlobalWatch, Euro GC Plus, InvestorInsight – expanding its business financial services portfolio at global level. Its headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium.
