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The story
LCH traces its roots back to the London Produce Clearing House, established in 1888, and the Paris-based Clearnet, established in 1969. Both developed from clearing commodity transactions. They merged in 2003 to form LCH.Clearnet. In 2013, the London Stock Exchange Group acquired a majority stake in the business. In 2016 LCH.Clearnet dropped Clearnet from its branding name.
London Clearing House
1888 – The London Produce Clearing House (LPCH) is established to clear commodities contracts in London. Shares are in public ownership and the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
1951 – LPCH is wholly acquired by United Dominions Trust.
1971 – The company is renamed the International Commodities Clearing House (ICCH).
1980 – Ownership passes to a consortium of six British banks.
1992 – ICCH divests the clearing software business to Sungard and is renamed the London Clearing House Ltd (LCH).
1996 – Majority ownership of LCH transfers to the whole clearing membership, with the LME, IPE and LIFFE acquiring minority ownership.
2003 – LCH.Clearnet Group is formed following the merger of the London Clearing House and Clearnet SA.
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Clearnet
1969 – Banque Centrale de Compensation SA is established to clear contracts traded in Paris commodity markets.
1990 – Banque Centrale de Compensation SA becomes a subsidiary of MATIF, and is the first organisation in Europe to clear both cash and derivatives.
1998 – Bourse de Paris takes control of MATIF. It launches a clearing service for French government securities and is the first organisation in Europe to permit remote clearing.
1999 – Banque Centrale de Compensation consolidates all clearing operations of Paris Bourse SA (previously Société des Bourses Francaises – Bourse de Paris) and MATIF SA and adopts the commercial brand Clearnet SA, while remaining legally registered under its former name. Clearnet thus becomes the clearing house for all products traded in the Paris markets.
2000 – Euronext is established through the merger of Paris Bourse, the Amsterdam Exchanges and the Brussels Exchanges.
2001 – Clearnet merges with Euronext Amsterdam's and Euronext Brussels' Clearing Houses.
2003 – Euronext Lisbon contributes its derivative and OTC equity clearing businesses to Clearnet which thus acquires a branch in Portugal to establish a local presence with Portuguese clearing members.
2003 – LCH.Clearnet Group is formed following the merger of the London Clearing House and Clearnet SA.
Post merger
2003 – LCH.Clearnet Group is formed following the merger of the London Clearing House and Clearnet SA. New ownership comprises: Clearing Members 45.1%, Exchanges 45.1%, Euroclear 9.8%.
2007 – LCH.Clearnet and Euronext announce repurchase by LCH.Clearnet of shares held by Euronext to more closely align customer and shareholder interests. Revised ownership comprises: Clearing Members 73.3%, Exchanges 10.9%, Euroclear 15.8%.
2008 – LCH.Clearnet successfully resolves $9 trillion of Lehman Brothers OTC interest rate swap defaults.
2009 – US office opened.
2009 – Dormant shareholders are retired and shareholders are given the option to reduce or exit their holdings. Revised ownership comprises: Clearing members 82.85%, Exchanges 17.15%.
2012 – The London Stock Exchange gets enough support to acquiring a 60% stake in LCH.Clearnet with an offer of €19 per share, giving LCH.Clearnet a valuation of €813 million (£677 million/ $1.1 billion).
2012 – LCH.Clearnet acquired sole ownership of International Derivatives Clearing Group, LLC from the NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. and certain other investors. IDCG became a U.S. subsidiary of LCH.Clearnet, reinforcing LCH.Clearnet's presence in the U.S. marketplace, where it already operated IRS clearing through its SwapClear service.
2013 – London Stock Exchange Group acquired a majority stake in the business.
2016 – LCH.Clearnet drops "Clearnet" from its name. It will be called LCH henceforth.
From Wikipedia’s article on LCH (clearing house), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5