Eurex, an international derivatives exchange and a member of the Deutsche Börse Group, announced on Thursday that it will launch MSCI Brazil Futures, a Latin American benchmark index. According to the press release, the new product comes in the wake of a growing demand for investment within the region, and it is expected to be launched on September 6.

Currently, Eurex offers MSCI EM Latin America and other index futures of other countries such as Colombia, Peru, Chile and México. That said, with the new benchmark index, investors could directly hedge or gain exposure to the Latam market by centralizing MSCI derivatives in one exchange and  Clearing House  Clearing House A clearing house is defined as an intermediary between two parties, a buyer and seller, which helps facilitate the overall process from trade inception to settlement. Clearing houses streamline the exchange of payments, securities, or derivatives transactions.The clearing house is situated between two clearing firms who also helps reduce the risk of either member firm failing to honor their respective trade settlement obligations.Buyers and sellers enter into legally binding agreements for the execution of trades. Consequently, as a third party, the role of the clearing house is to centralize and standardize all of the steps leading up to the settlement of any transaction. Clearing houses are integral in helping reduce the cost, settlement or operational risk of clearing as well as settling multiple transactions across multiple entities.Role of Clearing Houses Across ExchangesFinancial exchanges such as commodities and stock exchanges have relied on clearing houses for over a century. Today, the futures market is often associated with a clearing house, as its financial products are leveraged and necessitate a stable intermediary. Every reputable exchange possesses its own clearing house. This requires all members of an exchange to effectively clear their trades via a clearing house at the terminus of each trading session.Additionally, exchange members are obligated to reconcile clearing house's margin requirements, sufficient to cover the member's debit balance.This is a crucial stopgap to help prevent risk to individual traders. For example, if a trader doesn't meet a margin call, any and all trades will be closed. This is to prevent against any additional losses. This process helps reduce the risk to individual traders, ensuring sufficient funds in the account to cover any losses which may occur. A clearing house is defined as an intermediary between two parties, a buyer and seller, which helps facilitate the overall process from trade inception to settlement. Clearing houses streamline the exchange of payments, securities, or derivatives transactions.The clearing house is situated between two clearing firms who also helps reduce the risk of either member firm failing to honor their respective trade settlement obligations.Buyers and sellers enter into legally binding agreements for the execution of trades. Consequently, as a third party, the role of the clearing house is to centralize and standardize all of the steps leading up to the settlement of any transaction. Clearing houses are integral in helping reduce the cost, settlement or operational risk of clearing as well as settling multiple transactions across multiple entities.Role of Clearing Houses Across ExchangesFinancial exchanges such as commodities and stock exchanges have relied on clearing houses for over a century. Today, the futures market is often associated with a clearing house, as its financial products are leveraged and necessitate a stable intermediary. Every reputable exchange possesses its own clearing house. This requires all members of an exchange to effectively clear their trades via a clearing house at the terminus of each trading session.Additionally, exchange members are obligated to reconcile clearing house's margin requirements, sufficient to cover the member's debit balance.This is a crucial stopgap to help prevent risk to individual traders. For example, if a trader doesn't meet a margin call, any and all trades will be closed. This is to prevent against any additional losses. This process helps reduce the risk to individual traders, ensuring sufficient funds in the account to cover any losses which may occur. Read this Term. “We are pleased that we can finally offer our community direct access to the Brazilian market, which accounts for by far the largest weight – 66 percent – in the MSCI EM Latin America Index. For the first time, futures on the MSCI Brazil will be traded in an order book that offers all the advantages of efficient and transparent pricing,” Randolf Roth, Member of the Eurex Executive Board, commented.

MSCI China Index Futures Listing

In the same announcement, the international derivatives exchange said that futures on MSCI China will be available on the same date as MSCI Brazil ones, as it will start to delist MSCI China Free Index in response to a change in the MSCI’s index offering. In fact, Eurex stated that MSCI China Index is more widely used than the Free Index.

Last month, Eurex launched a centralized clearing service, Eurex Clearing, for deliverable cross-currency  Swaps  Swaps Swaps can be defined as a derivate contact composed of two parties that exchange to cash flow between two separate financial instruments.They are generally divided into two categories. This includes contingent claims (options) and forward claims, where forward contracts, swaps, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are exchanged. Commodity price, equity price, interest rate, and foreign exchange rate are common variables used as one of the cash flows in swaps upon initiation. Different Types of SwapsCommon types of swaps include interest rate swaps, commodity swaps, currency swaps, and debt-equity swaps.Interest rate swaps are used to hedge against interest rate risk and involve cash flows exchanged between two parties that are comprised of a notional principal amount. A financial intermediary or a bank is used for swaps but these are dependent upon both party’s comparative advantage.Commodity swaps use the exchange of a floating commodity price, with a predetermined set price for a specific period while crude oil is the most heavily swapped commodity. Meanwhile, currency swaps involve the exchange of principal payments of debt and interest that are denominated in different currencies. An example of a currency swap would be when the U.S. Federal Reserve conducted a swap with central banks of Europe during the 2010 European financial crisis.Used as a way to reallocate capital structure or refinance debt, a debt-equity swap deals with the exchange of debt for equity. For instance, a public traded company would issue bonds for stocks. Swaps are not exchange-traded instruments but rather customized contracts traded in an over-the-counter market between parties. While the swaps industry is primarily used by firms and financial institutions, retail traders have been known to participate although there is always a risk of counterparty’s defaulting on agreed-upon swaps. Swaps can be defined as a derivate contact composed of two parties that exchange to cash flow between two separate financial instruments.They are generally divided into two categories. This includes contingent claims (options) and forward claims, where forward contracts, swaps, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are exchanged. Commodity price, equity price, interest rate, and foreign exchange rate are common variables used as one of the cash flows in swaps upon initiation. Different Types of SwapsCommon types of swaps include interest rate swaps, commodity swaps, currency swaps, and debt-equity swaps.Interest rate swaps are used to hedge against interest rate risk and involve cash flows exchanged between two parties that are comprised of a notional principal amount. A financial intermediary or a bank is used for swaps but these are dependent upon both party’s comparative advantage.Commodity swaps use the exchange of a floating commodity price, with a predetermined set price for a specific period while crude oil is the most heavily swapped commodity. Meanwhile, currency swaps involve the exchange of principal payments of debt and interest that are denominated in different currencies. An example of a currency swap would be when the U.S. Federal Reserve conducted a swap with central banks of Europe during the 2010 European financial crisis.Used as a way to reallocate capital structure or refinance debt, a debt-equity swap deals with the exchange of debt for equity. For instance, a public traded company would issue bonds for stocks. Swaps are not exchange-traded instruments but rather customized contracts traded in an over-the-counter market between parties. While the swaps industry is primarily used by firms and financial institutions, retail traders have been known to participate although there is always a risk of counterparty’s defaulting on agreed-upon swaps. Read this Term and OTC FX. The launch came after a long testing phase of the platform. The clearing members in the network include banking giants like Commerzbank, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, who also participated in the testing. In addition, the platform guarantees settlement in CLSClearedFX. The official announcement highlighted that the transactions on the clearing platform will be cleared and settled on a net basis, which significantly reduces capital requirements under SA-CCR.