Doesn the clearing corporation adopt an enormous risk by giving out credit guarantees to all brokerage firms?
Yes, it does. If a brokerage firm goes bankrupt with net obligations of Rs.1 billion, the clearing corporation has a legal obligation of Rs.1 billion. The clearing corporation is legally obliged to either meet these obligations, or go bankrupt itself. There is no third alternative. There is no committee that meets to decide whether the settlement fund can be utilised; there are no escape clauses. It is important to emphasise that when L buys from S, at a legal level, L has bought from the clearing corporation and the clearing corporation has bought from S. Whether S lives up to his obligations or not, the clearing corporation is the counterparty to L. There is no escape clause which can be invoked by the clearing corporation if S defaults.
