David Hardy, the former head of LCH.Clearnet, played a singular role in the development of derivatives clearing for more than two decades. He began his career in banking with various assignments in the Barclays Group, and in 1985 he began what was intended to be a two-year assignment to the International Commodities Clearinghouse on behalf of Barclays, which was one of the six bank owners at that time. Twenty-one years later he left as chief executive of LCH.Clearnet. While changes to the ownership structure and financial backing were engineered over time, his ultimate legacy was a clearinghouse with likely the greatest range of risk management services for its clearing members and exchanges around the globe. Early in his career, he recognized the need for collaboration, or consolidation, between clearinghouses in order to achieve the greatest risk benefits for users. His belief was borne out during numerous default situations starting with Drexel Burnham Lambert, and he played a leading part in the post-Barings inter-clearinghouse co-operation agreements.
