A group of six of the biggest investment banks, which this week presented their plans for forming a pan-European central clearing counterparty, have agreed to work with 18 other banks to get their plans off the ground.

The group, which consists of Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and UBS Warburg, has presented its plans to other members of the European Securities Forum (ESF) - a group of banks set up to discuss the formation of a central counterparty.