JP Morgan is the best bank general clearing member (GCM) and GH Financials is the best non-bank GCM, according to new research based on client feedback.

The Acuiti GCM Review, released on Wednesday, found clients rated JP Morgan (79 points) narrowly ahead of Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs (both 77 points).

GH Financials was the clear winner in the non-bank section with 81 points, beating INTL FCStone into second with 76 points and Marex Spectron’s 73 points.

The Acuiti GCM Review tracks customer satisfaction with the top GCMs, based on over 180 responses and 19 metrics such as functionality and customer service.

The report tracks clients’ sentiment around the service they get from their GCMs and suggests there is a disparity in satisfaction across different types of client.

Two thirds of buy-side firms said they are either very or quite satisfied with their providers while only a third (35%) of proprietary trading firms were “quite satisfied” and none said they were very satisfied.

The paper also tracks trends among GCMs.

Much has been written about the concentration among GCMs, particularly in the US where the number of Commodity Futures Trading Commission registered clearing members has fallen to 62 today from 165 in 2002.

But the Acuiti report shows the concentration has disproportionately affected smaller firms. The number of GCMs holding less than $10m in segregated funds has fallen 78% since 2002 and firms with $11m-$100m in seg funds are down 44%. By contrast, the list of GCMs with over $1bn in segregated funds has fallen by only one (6%).

Will Mitting, founder and managing director of Acuiti, said: “Our review found that the commonly held narrative that there had been significant post-financial crisis consolidation among clearing providers was over-blown. In fact, concentration levels in listed derivatives have remained roughly constant since 2008.

“However, what we did find was a clear bifurcation of the market with certain company types, in particular proprietary trading groups and brokers, facing significantly less choice in the market for GCMs than the buyside and regional banks.”

The Acuiti review found more than a fifth of firms had changed GCM over the past three years because they were offboarded by their provider.

“The higher costs of capital and compliance has forced GCMs to review their client bases and either offboard or raise fees for certain client types, further reinforcing the bifurcation of the market,” said Mitting.

Intelligence firm Acuiti published in mid-April a report that back offices were creaking under the strain of extreme trading volumes linked to the coronavirus pandemic.