The board of directors of virt-x, the joint venture between the Swiss Exchange, SWX, and Tradepoint, has finally approved the use and structure of a central clearing counterparty.

The exchange will use two interlinked CCP's, the primary cross-border CCP being London Clearing House (LCH), with x-clear - the clearing arm of Swiss securities depository SIS SegaIntersettle - acting as CCP in cases where both parties to a trade have a clearing membership with x-clear. Both CCPs will clear the full range of stock traded on virt-x. The CCP will be in place by the middle of next year.