An international programme for strengthening the global financing system

So reads the title of the briefing document in front of me at this EU summit in Brussels.

One point made is that:

market participants should develop a robust central clearing facility for OTC credit derivatives and fulfil .....

Hmm. Good idea, seen it around quite a bit. That by having contracts cleared through an exchange we provide both visibility and remove counterparty risk.

What they don't seem to realise though is that we've already got a clearing house.

The DTCC.

Slightly worrying when those call for a huge extension of their powers in this area don't actually know such things, no?