I'm reminded of the strange fact that Mega Corporations like Shell and BP appear quite happy to have the likes of the London Clearing House ("LCH") and now the proprietary silo

ICE Futures Europe Clearing

as a counterparty, when in fact LCH's (and ICE's) capital base isn't even a pimple on their financial arse.

I guess, these End Users have probably regarded LCH as having an implicit government guarantee and they may well have been right.

But since ICE Futures Europe operates For Profit it shouldn't be able to rely upon governments....

"Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky