A senior European lawmaker has said a global framework for how clearing houses should react in times of market stress is the "only viable option" in the push to prevent what she described as the next "financial Armageddon".

Kay Swinburne, a member of the European Parliament and a co-ordinator for the influential Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, told an audience at a World Federation of Exchanges conference in Brazil on Tuesday that global standards for clearing houses are "within our grasp".