The WFE's Women Leaders 2023 - Laura Klimpel, General Manager of Fixed Income Clearing Corporation, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation

Name: Laura Klimpel

Organisation: The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation

Job Title: General Manager of DTCC’s Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) and Head of SIFMU Business Development

1. Brief description of nominee’s role and job:

Laura currently serves as the general manager of DTCC’s Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) and as head of SIFMU Business Development at the firm. Within these roles, Laura focuses on expanding FICC's clearance and settlement services to a broader array of market participants, as well as enhancing FICC's existing service offerings to further reduce risk and provide optimal capital and operational efficiencies to member firms. She also supports the development and implementation of the overall strategy and prioritisation of SIFMU initiatives, working with cross-functional teams and industry partners to develop strategies for building new products and services that mitigate risk, create market efficiencies and reduce costs.

2. Short bio (career highlights, education, interests/hobbies):

Laura has almost two decades of experience in regulatory and financial services. Prior to her current role, Laura was general counsel and chief compliance officer at New York Portfolio Clearing, LLC (NYPC) for four years. During this time, she led the effort to obtain NYPC’s registration as a derivative clearing organisation (DCO) and approvals for the “one-pot” cross-margining of interest-rate futures cleared by NYPC with fixed income cash instruments. She also drafted and reviewed rules, policies and procedures to ensure compliance with various regulations. Before that, Laura spent three years at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as an associate, focusing primarily on U.S. commodities and derivatives regulation, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

Laura received her B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from Truman State University in 1999 and her J.D. degree, cum laude, from Cornell University in 2007. She is a member of the New York Bar. She is also a member of the Treasury Market Practices Group (TPMG).

Laura is an active member of the DTCC community, supporting her team and fostering a collaborative work environment. She is also involved in DTCC’s programs that lift up the industry and the community. She has been an active member of DTCC’s iMentor program and has participated in DTCC’s Build-A-Bike event on multiple occasions in collaboration with the Leadership Institute. She is also part of DTCC’s Tampa site operating committee – helping to advise and manage day-to-day responsibilities in the office alongside other industry leaders in Tampa Bay.

Additionally, she is an active member of the Women in Securities Finance organisation, where she supports other women in the industry.

3. What were your professional highlights and challenges in 2022?

Laura’s contributions have been key to the expansion and delivery of new FICC and SIFMU capabilities at DTCC. She leverages her collaborative leadership style and her diverse professional background in clearing, regulation and business development to accelerate the achievement of numerous projects. Over the past year, Laura has:

1. Led and advanced industry dialogue on the value of increased central clearing within the U.S. Treasuries market, building upon a recent DTCC white paper, “Making the U.S. Treasury Market Safer for All Participants: How FICC’s Open Access Model Promotes Central Clearing.” Efforts included regularly engaging with regulators, trade associations (such as SIFMA and FIA), industry groups (such as TMPG), and a wide array of market participants around how a potential expansion of the clearing of Treasury activity could impact firms, and how FICC’s open access approach to central clearing could facilitate a potential expansion. We believe the adoption of a centralised clearing model for U.S. Treasuries transactions would cut risk and improve resiliency, which is critical to the strength and stability of the entire U.S. economy. 

2. Worked with regulators and key stakeholders over several years, enabling FICC to obtain recognition in the EU as a Tier 1 third-country CCP in accordance with applicable EU regulations.  This included engaging with ESMA and FICC’s U.S. regulators and communicating effectively with EU clients on the status of FICC’s efforts.   

3. Led the launch of the National Securities Clearing Corporation’s (NSCC) new Securities Financing Transaction (SFT) Clearing Service, allowing NSCC to operate a central clearing and settlement infrastructure for overnight borrowing and loaning of equity securities (collectively, securities financing transactions or “SFTs”).  

The service provides NSCC members with the ability to offset on their balance sheets their obligations to NSCC on novated SFTs, including those with third-party NSCC members and those with their institutional clients. Through novation to NSCC, members may also be eligible to take lesser capital charges on their SFTs than would be required to the extent that they engaged in the same activity outside of a central counterparty. By potentially alleviating balance sheet and capital constraints, participation in the SFT Clearing service may afford NSCC members and their clients increased lending and borrowing capacity.

This central clearing model has the potential to transform the securities lending market for the better, with benefits including freed up credit lines, new borrowing and lending opportunities for a wide range of counterparties, and balance sheet and capital optimisation.

4. What and who inspires, and has inspired, you to achieve your professional success?

Laura is motivated by the far-reaching effects of the work DTCC does day-to-day, and the role she plays in delivering upon the firm’s important mission of protecting global financial markets. The engagement and positive focus Laura witnesses from her team, DTCC’s clients and other key stakeholders, as well as the continued pursuit of efficiency and driving improvements to how financial markets operate, are incredibly inspiring to her.

In addition to this, Laura is thankful to have had the opportunity to work with a number of highly talented individuals over the course of her career, including lawyers, government officials, business, risk, technology and operations experts. She considers their mentorship and guidance as critical to her expertise and world view.

Laura also believes that experiences, and not only people, have shaped her professionally. Entering the industry at the start of the 2008 financial crisis and witnessing first-hand the impact it had, as well as having the opportunity to support the industry as the legislative and rule-making process was introduced, has shaped her perspective and strong belief in the value and the importance of services market infrastructure providers like DTCC and the work they do every day to ensure the safety and soundness of the global financial marketplace.

5. What advice do you have for other women who aspire to be in leadership positions?

Laura believes it is important to be confident and take on challenging opportunities. She encourages young women to be outspoken and inquisitive, actively seeking out interesting work within their own organisations, and more broadly, as often the best opportunities come unexpectedly. She recalls that some of her biggest rewards have come from taking the biggest personal and professional risks and pushing her own limits.

In terms of leadership, Laura is a strong believer that a team is greater than the sum of its parts. As a leader, she works to develop strong teams of people with their own areas of expertise who can effectively collaborate to create the most innovative and robust solutions possible. It is this approach that has enabled Laura and her team to deliver exciting new projects, all while developing her staff.

Lastly, Laura encourages young women to be part of a driving force reshaping the financial-services landscape, a traditionally male-dominated industry. She has witnessed, first-hand, the great work and recognition that her fellow female peers have achieved in recent years. A testament to this is DTCC’s historic moment where, for the first time ever, the three systemically important financial market utility businesses of DTCC (which process transactions worth over two quadrillion dollars annually) are run by three women.