Clearing house LCH.Clearnet sees a possible new ownership structure, new services for credit default swaps and access for buy-side participants in its interest rate swaps business, Michael March, business development director for LCH.Clearnet told Dow Jones Newswires Friday.

"Certainly we expect to see new owners and groups of owners," he said at a press conference in Interlaken. The company is "in talks with shareholders," on the matter, March said.

He was unable to comment on a Financial Times report Friday that the company could buy out its shareholders at EUR11 a share and give a possible controlling stake to a consortium of banks.

March repeated LCH.Clearnet's previously announced plans to enter the new market for clearing over-the-counter, or OTC, credit default swaps and its plans to give some buy-side participants access to its interest rate swap business later this year.

Clearing houses are increasingly offering products aimed at clearing OTC credit default swaps, the exotic derivatives contracts that figured heavily in the financial crisis after the demise of Lehman Brothers one year ago.

Thus far, clearing houses in Europe and the U.S. have had mixed success with the offering. While the IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) has attracted considerable volume, Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1.XE) has failed thus far to gain traction in the segment and NYSE Euronext (NYX) said it has put its rival program "under review" because of low activity.

"It's true that ICE has developed a platform in both the U.S. and Europe with some good traction," March said.

As for LCH.Clearnet's own service, "it will be for the market to decide if it wishes to clear through it," he said.

In LCH.Clearnet's OTC interest rate swap clearing business, March said his company would extend access by the end of the year to include some buy-side third parties and is "currently working through the model to ensure the necessary structure for risk segregation."

"There is increasingly a voice at the table for participation from the buy side," March said. "We are hoping for a solution by year end."

March is further confident that LCH.Clearnet can maintain its dominant position in the market for interbank interest rate swaps in spite of new competition.

Although LCH.Clearnet currently controls 65% of that market by value, Nasdaq's OMX Group Inc.'s (NDAQ) International Derivatives Clearing Group and the CME Group (CME) are attempting to take market share with their own platforms.

Company Web site: www.lchclearnet.com

-By William Launder; Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 515; william.launder@dowjones.com