LCH.Clearnet, the clearing house, has issued formal requests to Deutsche Börse and Borsa Italiana for links allowing it to clear share trades executed on their platforms.

LCH.Clearnet said implementation of these links will allow users of those markets to consolidate clearing of cash equities traded on the London Stock Exchange, virt-x, Deutsche Börse and Borsa Italiana.

The clearing house added that extending LCH.Clearnet’s clearing services to include Germany and Italy will help lower unit costs, giving scope for further fee reductions across all markets.

This is the first major test of a new European code of conduct on interoperability, designed to compel connections between each exchange, clearing house and settlement system.