Payments Netting

Payments netting

Reducing fund transfers between affiliates to only a netted amount. Netting can occur on a bilateral basis (between pairs of affiliates), or on a multi-lateral basis (taking all affiliates together).

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Payments Netting

A way of settling transactions that minimizes the need for funds and securities to actually change hands. To give a very simple example, suppose a brokerage buys shares in a company for $100,000 and later sells them back to the original owner for $120,000. A payments netting method would have the securities stay with the original owner and mandate that this owner transfer $20,000 to the brokerage. Payments netting can be complex because of the number of actors involved, but maximizes the likelihood that, at the end of the trading day, every party has received exactly what it should have, and no more. Clearing houses provide most payment netting services.