Dutch clearing house EMCF posted its first loss during 2012, in a sign of the commercial pressures it faced prior to agreeing a merger with rival EuroCCP earlier this year.

According to EMCF, which is currently majority-owned by ABN Amro with Nasdaq OMX holding a 22% stake, the net loss of €1.8m was due to lower market volumes in 2012 and the introduction of interoperability, a model that lets multiple clearing houses clear for a single trading platform and gives users a choice of clearing provider. The model is now used across the majority of Europe's alternative trading venues - known as multilateral trading facilities - and brings clearing houses into direct competition with one another.