When Meff, the Spanish futures and options market, announced last month that it had launched a central counterparty (CCP) for government bond repos, there was much scratching of heads.

Spain, like Italy earlier this year, was further fragmenting the clearing and settlement market, despite the received wisdom that, in the CCP sector, less is more. Giulio di Cerbo, who runs the securities clearing business for Citigroup Global Transaction Services, is puzzled. He says: "Every market seems to be creating its own CCPs. But what is the purpose? With a single currency, this shouldn't need to happen."