(Bloomberg) -- The UK’s major clearing houses are resilient under severe market strains, though have some vulnerabilities in highly concentrated positions, according to the Bank of England’s stress test results published Friday.
ICE Clear Europe Ltd., LCH Ltd., and LME Clear Ltd. were examined in the Bank’s third regular stress test of central counterparties, exploring how they would fare in a scenario that included the default of two or more members.
The firms saw larger losses in this year’s test, partly due to them holding fewer pre-funded resources than during the market volatility of 2022, according to the central bank.
“The stress test results do not suggest that this is a cause for concern, but we continue to monitor CCPs’ resources through ongoing data collection and supervision,” Sarah Breeden, the BOE’s deputy governor for financial stability, said in a statement.
“When we extend the stress test to include the cost of liquidating highly concentrated positions and more conservative assumptions, we identify some potential areas of vulnerability, which we will explore with CCPs as part of our ongoing supervision.”
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