LCH hires ex-JP clearing head Rustad to run SwapClear, Listed Rates

The UK-based group said on Thursday Rustad, who left JP Morgan in early 2023 for a hedge fund where he worked for a year, has joined as head of SwapClear and Listed Rates, reporting to head of LCH Ltd Susi de Verdelon.

De Verdelon said: “I am delighted to welcome Nick Rustad as Group Head of LCH SwapClear and Listed Rates. Nick’s experience will be incredibly valuable as we focus on delivering new products, as well as the growth and resilience of the services in the years to come.”

Rustad became the US bank’s global head and derivatives clearing in 2016 having previously run European emerging markets interest rate trading and worked as the treasurer of the US bank’s Moscow branch.

He was also the chair of the FIA board of directors for two years until he left JP and a non-executive board member of LCH.

London-based Rustad became the US bank’s global head and derivatives clearing in 2016 having previously run European emerging markets interest rate trading and worked as the treasurer of the US bank’s Moscow branch.

He was also the chair of the FIA board of directors for two years until he left JP and a non-executive board member of LCH.

Rustad’s appointment comes after LCH promoted in January De Verdelon, the former group head of LCH SwapClear and listed rates, to chief executive of LCH Ltd, the London-based arm of the clearing group.

SwapClear is strategically important to LCH and LSE Group as the world’s largest swaps clearing house which claimed last year over 90% of notional interest rate swaps cleared.

LSEG does not report SwapClear earnings but LCH’s over-the-counter derivatives clearing arm, which is mostly SwapClear but includes LCH ForexClear and LCH CDSClear, reported revenue last year of £582m, slightly less than half of the group’s total post-trade income of £1.2bn.

LCH Ltd said in a report in February SwapClear’s notional cleared volume rose 21% last year to $1.6trillion (£1.2tn) while the number of client trades increased 26% to 4 million.

Rustad’s recruitment comes as SwapClear faces the prospect of increased competition in its Euro interest rate swaps clearing market from Frankfurt’s Eurex Clearing.

European regulators plan to introduce on June 25 the controversial active account regulation (AAR) which requires European firms to clear some of their interest rate derivatives, including interest rate swaps, with a European clearing house.

The regulation is an attempt to break the dominance of London-based clearing houses SwapClear and ICE Clear Europe which are respectively the main Euro swaps and Euro short-term interest rate futures clearing houses.