Non-bank FCM of the Year: G.H. Financials

As some banks scale back their client base in the derivatives market, the gauntlet is thrown to non-bank FCMs and the judges felt that G.H. Financials was at the forefront of this trend after a year in which it reported a number of significant achievements. 

The firm broke new ground by becoming the first ever remote clearing member of ASX Clear in Australia and also became a member of ASX.  

It is now able to offer low-latency sponsored direct market access to the Australian market, as well as offering global clients the choice of dealing with an ASX clearing member outside the Australian time zone.  

ASX and GHF embarked on this venture with the aim of bringing new liquidity to the market and has set a model for others to follow. 

The firm also became one of the very few non-bank general clearing members of Eurex. The approval to become a GCM followed the establishment of an account at the Bundesbank, the Central Bank in Germany. 

GHF says that the membership has enabled it to grow its non-clearing member client base considerably, now servicing NCMs across three continents. 

While headquartered in London, GHF has global ambitions and invested in expansion in Asia in particular during the judging period.

The firm expanded its Asian ISV partnerships to include: eSunny, Sharp-point and ZD Trade.  GHF also became a participant at the Hong Kong Clearing Corporation and the Hong Kong Futures Exchange and launched a dedicated Chinese language website.

Mark Ibbotson, group CEO of GHF, says that the expansion is in recognition of the globalisation of the clearing business. 

“Clearing today is a global business and there is the opportunity to be a one-stop-shop for our clients, offering clearing services across the world,” he says. 

“We expect to see more opportunities for remote clearing open up across Asia, since it is a logical extension of the globalisation of the industry.”

Many of the larger clearing firms are being negatively impacted by stringent capital rules. While these rules also affect GHF, the impact is less than that on the tier 1 and 2 banks. 

Ibbotson says that this is driving a change in how clients are serviced across global derivatives markets. 

“The market is traditionally dominated by banks who of course offer a variety of services, and their futures clearing is an incidental activity not a core one.

“Clients used to rely on full service banks to do everything for them. Today, you don’t need to do that.

“While many of our competitors also operate globally, at GHF we service our clients with a single team whose sole speciality is clearing. That is what separates us from the pack – all we do is clearing and we do it globally with one team.” 

GHF is headquartered in London and has offices in Chicago and Hong Kong. GHF clears on over twenty-five exchanges globally and has been consistently one of the largest clearing members on the European and US futures exchanges since its launch in 1993.

For more information, contact: 

Mark Phelps

Global Head of Sales and Marketing

mark.phelps@ghfinancials.com

+1 312 544 0316 ext. 2102