Britain Sues Europe’s Bank

Britain is taking the European Central Bank (ECB) to court on Thursday at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, the first time a government has taken such an action. At issue is the ECB’s location policy for clearing houses; it says that, if it is to provide overnight liquidity for euro-denominated securities, trades must take place within the euro zone and not within the broader European Union (EU).

Bloomberg reported that the EU has discussed allowing clearing houses to have access to ECB liquidity to provide greater stability; the ECB’s position, on the other hand, is that if it is to provide such funding, clearing activities should take place within the euro zone. Such a requirement could mean that some clearing houses based in London would have to relocate to a euro zone nation if they were to continue to clear euro-denominated securities.

While the issue is not new—the proposal was originally made by the ECB ten years ago—it was brought up again in the last month. And it comes just as the London Stock Exchange Group is in discussions with LCH Clearnet Group Ltd. on the possible purchase of all or part of the world’s biggest clearing house for swaps.