SEBI and the Bank of England sign a clearing house cooperation pact

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Bank of England have signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation and information exchange covering SEBI-recognised clearing corporations, SEBI said on 28 October.

SEBI's press release, PR No. 66/2026, says the memorandum lets the two authorities cooperate on central counterparties in line with their own laws and regulations, and sets up a framework for the Bank of England to place reliance on SEBI's regulatory and supervisory activities while safeguarding the UK's financial stability. SEBI adds that the agreement shows the importance of cross-border cooperation in making international clearing possible. The release does not name the clearing corporations covered, give a date from which the arrangement applies or say whether any of them has applied for UK recognition.

The wording follows the Bank's December 2023 memorandum with the Reserve Bank of India on the Clearing Corporation of India Ltd. The Bank said then that the agreement satisfied the requirement under Article 25(7) of the UK European Market Infrastructure Regulation and would allow it to assess the Clearing Corporation of India's application for UK recognition. The 2023 memorandum was signed by Sarah Breeden, the Bank's Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, and T. Rabi Sankar, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. SEBI's release names no signatories and makes no such statement about the new agreement.

The EU took a parallel route this year. The European Securities and Markets Authority said when it signed its own memorandum with SEBI in September that the agreement would allow SEBI-supervised clearing houses to re-apply for recognition under EMIR, a step towards restoring access for EU clearing members to Indian clearing houses after more than two years of engagement. It said talks with the International Financial Services Centres Authority on a similar arrangement were continuing.

One SEBI-supervised house is already recognised. The Bank's list of recognised central counterparties shows NSE Clearing, with SEBI as its home authority, recognised as a Tier 1 clearing house on 19 October 2026, nine days before SEBI announced the memorandum; the Clearing Corporation of India, supervised by the Reserve Bank of India, has been on the list since 15 December 2023. For UK banks and brokers active in Indian markets, the documents to watch are decisions on the other SEBI-recognised clearing corporations. Our recent India coverage includes the RBI's leverage ratio floors, and our opinion on bank resolution backstops sets out why cross-border supervisory arrangements matter for emerging market financial systems.