About SwapAgent
SwapAgent is a service designed to deliver the benefits of clearing to the uncleared derivatives market. By standardising collateral agreements, simplifying processing and facilitating settlement of existing uncleared derivatives across interest rate swaps (IRS), cross-currency (XCCY) swaps, swaptions and FX, SwapAgent improves liquidity in the interbank market and provides significant operational, balance sheet and resource management benefits for our members.
SwapAgent extends proven clearing infrastructure to the bilateral market without novating to a central counterparty or managing counterparty risk. Trades remain fully bilateral while benefiting from centrally managed lifecycle processing, valuation, margining and risk calculations.
Today, SwapAgent supports a growing global network of 59 members, representing both buy and sell-side across 17 countries, processing average daily volumes of over $64bn notional and settlement volumes exceeding $700bn in 2025.
As part of LSEG’s Post Trade Solutions, SwapAgent extends many efficiencies of the cleared derivatives space to the non-cleared market - capabilities customers already know and trust - helping to create a more streamlined, resilient and cost-effective post-trade environment.
What we do
SwapAgent facilitates standardisation within the bilateral world through:
- Use of standard of collateral document terms
- Uniform end-to-end trade processing and lifecycle management is accommodated under the SwapAgent framework
- Independent valuation and dispute elimination for bilateral trades
- Standardised risk factor calculations to enable bilateral initial margin calculations
- Simplification and standardisation of the collateralisation and facilitation of settlement
- More efficient payment flows (e.g. netting coupons and variation margin)
- Prevention of bilareral settlement risk within a PvP environment with Herstatt protection built in
SwapAgent advantages
SwapAgent brings together many benefits of clearing, including removing disputes with counterparties and independent valuation, while expanding the product offering beyond linear interest rate derivatives, and adding efficiencies to payment processing.
| Category | Bilateral SwapAgent | Bilateral Today | LCH SwapClear & ForexClear |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standardised collateral documentation | Yes | No | Yes |
| Standardised trade processing | Yes | No | Yes |
| Independent valuation agent | Yes | No | Yes |
| Dispute elimination | Yes | No | Yes |
| VM/coupon/interest netting | Yes | No | Yes |
| Standardised risk factor calculation | Yes | No | Yes |
| Standardised payment processing | Yes | No | Yes |
| Cross-currency and swaptions | Yes | Yes | No |
| Central counterparty | No | No | Yes |
| Default fund | No | No | Yes |
Service overview
SAL = SwapAgent Limited
Legal framework
By applying a common framework under the SwapAgent rulebook for the bilateral transactions for which payment obligations are facilitated, members benefit from standardised CSA documentation, enabling a level playing field for the basis of valuation, collateralisation and settlement flows.
This can reduce trading friction and costs and increase access to liquidity, while allowing SwapAgent to offer efficient operational netting and settlement of bilateral payment obligations.
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