The Winning Formula for Independent Clearing Technology Specialists Baymarkets AS

What’s new for Baymarkets in 2022? This has been an exciting year for Baymarkets with growth in our key accounts and a plethora of new business opportunities, particularly in newer asset classes. Recently, for example, a specialist exchange approached us to help them advance a market initiative to clear physical commodities in the energy sector. Our flexible approach and industry experience enabled us to jump in and progress this CCP/clearing project very quickly and it is now on track to be delivered shortly. Major contract win with commodities derivatives clearing house Baymarkets is extremely pleased to be collaborating with this new client, our first in the commodities space, and to be able to put our significant experience in commodities and coreclearing and CCP expertise to good effect to provide the solution - and ongoing support - they need. Why did they approach Baymarkets? They specifically wanted to work with a company offering a more contemporary and agile approach to technology project development and a high-touch delivery philosophy. With Baymarkets they get the best of both worlds. A specialist clearing technology partner whose expertise in building clearing systems has been honed over many years across multiple asset classes - and with a track record of success in delivering and operating key industry CCPs. Our independent operator status was also important to them. The financial world is changing, with more market participants recognising the value of a specialist firm in a clearing space historically dominated by a few exchange-associated vendors. Today’s market participants are more and more open to engaging with FinTechs – not least because they are likely, precisely by virtue of their more thoughtful and innovative approach, to be working with newer systems and techniques and/or to be less constrained by legacy technology, infrastructure and mindset. What do you think ‘sealed the deal’ on your first commodities clearing partnership? As I said, a key factor in choosing to work with us on this significant market initiative was that we offer a new approach to conventional market practices. We have unparalleled broad and deep knowledge of multi-asset clearing and a demonstrable record of success delivering stable, robust and reliable systems and infrastructure to the world’s financial markets. Plusthe fact that many of the team in Baymarkets come from commodity CCPs. They also highlighted our “clearing made easy” philosophy and innovative Clara clearing technology which has many unique features. This includes CCP interoperability, advanced risk management algorithms and also features standardised APIs for ease of implementation with all counterparties including banks, CSDs and clients. What’s next in 2022? As well as going live with our first physical clearing system for energy commodities we are working on embracing other clearing challenges in this and other sectors, including the digital assets marketplace. We are also delighted to announce the appointment of Morten Lindeman to the Baymarkets board of directors. Morten joins from Infront where he was CIO and a co-founder, and we are delighted to benefit from his experience and industry knowledge as we enter a new period of growth.