The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has approved Eurex’s application for multilateral clearing organisation status, which will enable US-based customers to use its clearing facilities for OTC derivatives.

The status approval, awarded on July 31 and effective from that date, was granted after the US watchdog determined that the oversight of Eurex’s homeland regulator, the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin), in conjunction with Deutsche Bundesbank, “satisfies appropriate standards”.

BaFin and the CFTC have agreed to share information regarding the clearing activities of Eurex.

A Eurex spokesperson in Frankfurt said that the before the status was awarded, US-based customers were only permitted to trade Eurex products via the bourse’s order book. This limited Eurex’s prospects for growth, as some asset classes are usually traded off-exchange but with an exchange as a central counterparty.

Eurex submitted its application on March 27, with public comment solicited by the CFTC until May 13.