Clearstream is a financial services company that specializes in the settlement of securities transactions and is owned by Deutsche Börse AG.

[7] Clearstream was founded as "Cedel" (Centrale de Livraison de Valeurs Mobilières) in September 1970 by 66 of the world's major financial institutions as a clearing organisation whose objective was to minimise risk in the settlement of cross-border securities trading, particularly in the growing Eurobond market.

[9] Between 2001 and 2002, two books were published by co-authors Denis Robert and Ernest Backes, entitled Révélation$ and La Boîte Noire, accusing Clearstream of being a money laundering organisation and the worldwide centre for international financial crime committed by major banks, shell companies, and organised crime all over the world.

An investigation that included the search of Clearstream's premises and an examination of accounts in 2004 found no evidence supporting the accusations.

In late 2005, French investigating authorities officially declared the documents forgeries and dismissed the case.

[13] In 2008, several groups of plaintiffs commenced enforcement proceedings in the US to satisfy judgments which they had obtained against Iran by restraining certain positions held in a Clearstream securities account with its intermediary bank in the US, and asking for handover of the assets.

[14] In 2011, the plaintiffs filed additional claims, this time directly against Clearstream, for damages of USD 250 million in connection with the purported wrongful conveyance of some of the restrained positions.

[16] Arising from the above, the U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) investigated certain securities' transfers in 2008 within Clearstream's settlement systems regarding US Iran sanctions regulations.

[17] The matter was resolved in 2014 through a settlement and payment of USD 151.9 million that does not constitute a final determination that a violation of Iran sanctions had occurred.

[22] In December 2010, Clearstream co-founded REGIS-TR, a joint venture with the Spanish Central Securities Depository Iberclear, to act as a trade repository for derivatives transactions, helping participants meet their regulatory reporting obligations brought about by the introduction of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).

Collateral management refers to the handling of all tasks related to the monitoring of collateral posted by a borrower to meet a financial obligation (optimisation, substitution, top-up, withdrawal, settlement instruction, reporting, processing of margin calls and returns, notification of corporate events, etc.).

Clearstream's collateral management, securities lending and borrowing services are gathered under the Global Liquidity Hub.

[26] It provides a pool of liquidity through links to agent banks, trading platforms, clearing houses and other market infrastructures.

Clearstream is a member of the Liquidity Alliance, which was established in January 2013 as a platform for CSDs to collaborate on collateral management.

Clearstream's services include eligibility assessments, issuance and distribution of domestic, foreign and international (i.e. Eurobonds) new issues of global and domestic instruments: certificates of deposit, depository receipts, treasury bills, commercial papers, short-term and medium-term notes, bonds, equities, warrants, equity-linked notes and investment fund shares.