The LSE Directory / Clearing houses
HKEX Clearing is not a single legal entity but the collective name for the clearing house subsidiaries of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX): Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited (HKSCC), HKFE Clearing Corporation Limited (HKCC), The SEHK Options Clearing House Limited (SEOCH), and OTC Clearing Hong Kong Limited (OTC Clear). HKSCC is the central counterparty for cash equities and exchange traded funds dealt on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK), and it operates the Central Clearing and Settlement System (CCASS), settling most eligible securities through continuous net settlement. HKCC clears futures traded on the Hong Kong Futures Exchange, SEOCH clears stock options traded on SEHK, and OTC Clear is the CCP for over the counter interest rate swaps, non-deliverable forwards, cross currency swaps and deliverable FX. What distinguishes the group from a typical single asset class CCP is its coverage: one corporate parent runs the clearing infrastructure for cash equities, listed derivatives and OTC derivatives in the same market, so a clearing participant active across those product lines deals with one HKEX led risk framework rather than several unrelated CCPs. OTC Clear's specific differentiator within Asian OTC clearing is its role as the Hong Kong side counterparty for the Northbound leg of Swap Connect, the mutual market access scheme that lets Hong Kong and international investors clear Mainland China interbank interest rate swaps through a counterparty link with the Shanghai Clearing House, rather than clearing those trades through a Western CCP. Its clearing participants are licensed banks, brokers and other institutional intermediaries needing CCP access to Hong Kong's markets or to Swap Connect; it has no direct retail relationship. HKSCC, the securities CCP, was established in 1989 and is recognised as a Recognized Clearing House under Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Ordinance. OTC Clear is majority owned by HKEX, which holds a 92.54% stake, with four financial institutions holding the remaining equity as non voting shareholders. Swap Connect's Northbound channel, cleared on the Hong Kong side by OTC Clear, went live on 15 May 2023 with 162 transactions totalling RMB 8.259 billion in notional on its first trading day. HKEX itself, the parent of all four clearing houses, was formed on 6 March 2000 from the merger of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Futures Exchange and their associated clearing houses; the Hong Kong Government is HKEX's single largest shareholder and holds the right to appoint six of the thirteen board directors. Two recent, verifiable changes at OTC Clear: effective 13 January 2025, offshore investors gained the ability to use China government bonds and policy bank bonds held through Bond Connect as eligible collateral for Northbound Swap Connect initial margin. Then on 22 September 2025, OTC Clear, together with China Foreign Exchange Trade System and the Shanghai Clearing House, added the 1 year Loan Prime Rate as a floating reference rate for CNY interest rate swaps under Northbound Swap Connect and simultaneously extended the maximum clearable tenor for CNY non-deliverable interest rate swaps from 5.5 to 11 years; 31 onshore and offshore institutions traded 53 LPR1Y referenced swaps totalling RMB 6.46 billion in notional on the first day.
