I think that there is good reason to do so

Ruben Lee is the founder and Executive Director of Oxford Finance Group, a firm specialised in financial markets. Former Associate Professor of Nuffield College, Oxford University, he worked for Salomon Brothers in the 1980s and is a member of the Scientific Council of the authority of financial markets. He has released an impressive report on governance of market infrastructure. He exhibited at the "Echos" his views on this thorny issue.

Should scholarships make a profit

There is not one correct answer to this question. It depends for much of the context. The central question to ask is whether if these institutions operate in a competitive environment. In Europe, the financial sector has become much more competitive. In my view, if a market is truly competitive, the nature of the governance of the awards is less critical, since what is important is that operators feed technological innovation.

Do you share the same views for the clearing and settlement houses, today in the heart of the reflections of global regulators

It is much more difficult to make more competitive post-trading infrastructure, because they operate as networks. They are placed between the various stakeholders, who are forced to pass by them. If you think from the point of view of the market, these infrastructures have a very high value. But this value depends on the number of users they have. Hence the natural tendency to have only a single room clearing and settlement, in a presentation form and operating "at cost" on a mutual basis, NLDR, like the DTCC the first American trim, Editor's note. With a drawback however: these rooms of clearing or settlement will always try to protect themselves against the arrival of new entrants.

Do you think that there is too much clearing in Europe houses

Sincerely, we do not know. The European Union has as objective to promote interoperability between countervailing duties, but it depends for much of the goodwill of these companies from market. No clearing house is ready to encourage interoperability that would lead to a loss of the number of transactions to offset and a decrease in their activity.

The European Commission has strongly increased competition between market operators in 2007. Should do the same for their countervailing duties

It is clear that there is competition between clearing houses are not enough. Yes, it will take a regulatory intervention strong to change this situation.

Nyse Euronext trim, CHL.Clearnet, has recently restructured its capital, thus becoming property of its users. Is there not a risk of conflict of interest

No, this is not necessarily a bad thing. The capital structure does not determine the quality of his work. Need to pay attention to this kind of topics. In the United States, a recently proposed by the Republican representative Stephen Lynch amendment to limit the shares held by banks in the capital of the clearing houses of derivatives traded over-the-counter OTC, Editor's note 20. It is an error, because management of risk established by these countervailing duties depend on money provided by their members.

On the clearing of OTC derivatives, what differences identify you between the American and European initiatives

Derivatives clearing became a very political subject in the United States. Derivative products are considered to be one of the causes of the financial crisis. This is why the White House is today considering to implement a fairly strict supervision of these products. I think that European regulators are more pragmatic and less dogmatic.

How do you assess the Target 2 Securities project of pan-European settlement-delivery system that tries to implement the European Central Bank (ECB)

All decisions taken in the developed countries on these topics, it is one of the most interventionist that exist. I think that there is good reason to do so. The problem that may arise there is also a governance. What is the Eurosystem and the ECB will be able avoid the traditional disadvantages associated with structures operated by the Government (too high prices, bureaucracy, etc.) This is to demonstrate.