Cboe Global Markets, Inc., a leading global markets operator and pioneer in equity and index derivatives, announced that Cboe Clear Europe, its pan-European clearing house, plans to expand its Securities Financing Transactions (SFT) clearing service to include the lending of Fixed Income instruments beginning August 24 - a significant milestone in the firm's strategy to bring the benefits of central clearing to the global securities lending market.

The service will include certain EU, Swiss and UK government and corporate bonds for all lenders and borrowers, along with U.S. Treasuries and U.S. corporate bonds for non-U.S. lenders and borrowers. Settlement will take place via Euroclear Bank for European and Swiss instruments, CREST for UK instruments, the Federal Reserve for U.S. Treasuries, and the Depository Trust Company for U.S. corporate bonds.

"The addition of Fixed Income securities is a natural extension of our SFT clearing service and another transformational development for the lending community, creating new opportunities for participants to optimise their portfolios," said Vikesh Patel, Global Head of Clearing and President, Cboe Clear Europe. "We've seen strong demand from the SFT industry seeking greater capital efficiency and lower risk-weighted asset exposures across their equity and ETF portfolios, and they are looking to extend those benefits globally and across asset classes. It demonstrates Cboe's continued investment in expanding its global clearing business to help unlock greater capital efficiencies for market participants."

The expansion builds on the successful launch of Cboe Clear Europe's SFT clearing service in 2025, which initially covered lending European cash equities and ETFs across 19 European Central Securities Depositories. Since going live, the service has been adopted by a range of principal lenders, agent lenders - representing both UCITS and non-UCITS beneficial owners - and borrowers, with daily notional outstanding loan values of €9 billion and over 1,000 settlements per day.

By moving SFTs from a bilateral to a centrally cleared model, the service can help participants improve balance sheet efficiencies while simplifying a range of post-trade operations, including settlement, reporting and client onboarding.

Jan Treuren, Head of Product, Cboe Clear Europe, said: "Participant appetite for a single, globally consistent clearing framework for securities lending continues to grow as demonstrated by increased utilization rates for lenders. By bringing the capital efficiency, operational simplicity and risk management benefits we've delivered in European equities and ETFs to new asset classes, we're taking a major step toward building the leading securities lending clearing ecosystem."