regulation of industries deemed to be of "strategic social utility" is much more efficient and effective than having the government run them directly.
is generally the case. Nor, even, that it is usually the case.
As for the clearing system in particular:
Case open and shut.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
As Migeru would say: you're starting to look disingenuous.
That a speculative bubble in the real estate and derivatives markets can bring deposit-taking institutions to the brink of not lending to each other demonstrates conclusively that the current clearing system does not work: It cannot withstand sharp shocks without massive public subsidies.
Also, the bulk of the costs of maintaining a clearing system are independent of usage rates, so price/transaction is not a meaningful number to judge the price of a clearing system.
These banks are deposit-taking institutions. If they stop lending to each other, the clearing system ceases to work.
