Depository trust starts interest-rate swap trade repository

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. said it started a global trade repository for over-the-counter interest-rate swaps.

The warehouse is based in London and holds data from 15 of the largest global dealers, DTCC said in a statement. The company already runs global repositories for equity derivatives and credit-default swaps, and is planning initiatives in over- the-counter foreign exchange and commodities derivatives markets.

The repository is part of the financial industry’s efforts to fulfill obligations under the U.S. Dodd-Frank Act and proposed European Market Infrastructure Regulation legislation, DTCC said. Regulators are seeking greater transparency in derivatives markets, which they’ve blamed for exacerbating financial crises.

“The credit derivatives market is highly concentrated, but only so big,” Stewart Macbeth, president and chief executive officer of DTCC Deriv/SERV LLC, said in an interview. “The reach of the rates market is far deeper and wider.”

Derivatives are financial instruments derived from stocks, bonds, loans, currencies and commodities, or linked to specific events like changes in interest rates or the weather. So-called over-the-counter derivatives aren’t traded on exchanges.