Post-trade solutions provider OSTTRA has completed its first compression run for USD/CNH cross currency swaps (CCS) with OSTTRA triReduce, its portfolio compression service. The run was cleared through Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s (HKEX) OTC Clear in a collaboration driven by the increase in demand for compression services for Asia-Pacific (APAC) currencies.
The pilot run saw the compression of US$5.8 billion in notional value. Five institutions, including Bank of China (Hong Kong) and Crédit Agricole CIB were involved.
The outstanding volume of USD/CNH CCS cleared in July this year on HKEX’s OTC Clear was US$255.2 billion. The CCP is currently the only one clearing this contract. The value reflects an overall trend: according to OSTTRA’s press release, the firm has observed a “significant increase” in compression volume in APAC currencies. Compressed notional value has more than doubled year-on-year (YoY) in the first six months of 2025. It states, “The notional value of APAC currency contracts closed in 2025 to date surpassed US$33.1trillion, more than twice the amount seen for these currencies across the whole of 2023.”
Following the success of the first run, OSTTRA is now planning to conduct another compression run for USD/CNH with a larger group of market participants in the coming months, also on HKEX’s OTC Clear.
