The London Stock Exchange is in talks with European Multilateral Clearing Facility (EMCF), a clearing house jointly owned by Nasdaq OMX and Fortis of the Netherlands, about the possibility of taking a stake in the venture, two people familiar with the matter said.

If the LSE were to take a stake in EMCF, it would give Xavier Rolet, the exchange’s new chief executive, a stake in a pan-European clearing house that clears equities for more platforms than any rival.

The move comes as EMCF is set this week to become an alternative clearer to Baikal, the LSE’s “dark pool” being readied for launch. Baikal was to have used the LSE’s Italian clearing house, Cassa di Compensazione e Garanzia (CC&G) but is not yet ready to take on the job alone.

Mr Rolet has made expanding the LSE’s post-trade business a priority. The LSE already has a relatively large clearing business in CC&G, which came with the LSE’s acquisition in 2007 of Borsa Italiana.

The talks with EMCF, first reported by Financial News, also reflect the impact of a series of agreements that have been signed in recent weeks between clearing houses in Europe to “inter-operate” with each other. The European Commission has been pressing for such agreements to allow market participants more choice between different clearers. Inter-operability means that trading firms no longer have to post margin collateral with each clearing house they use.

EMCF was established in early 2007 to provide competitive central counterparty (CCP) clearing services for a new breed of “multilateral trading facilities” (MTFs), including Chi-X Europe, which has captured 18 per cent of trading in the FTSE 100. EMCF is 22 per cent owned by Nasdaq OMX, with the rest held by Fortis, controlled by the Dutch government.

EMCF clears for Chi-X Europe; BATS Europe; Nasdaq OMX Europe, an MTF owned by US-based Nasdaq OMX; and Nasdaq OMX Nordic, the Nordic market owned by the same US parent.

The LSE declined to comment on any talks with EMCF.

Erik Westerling, a spokesman for EMCF, declined to comment on any talks. But he said: “I can confirm that, as it looks right now, we will be the CCP when Baikal is launched and it’s definitely the intention to become interoperable as quickly as possible after Baikal’s launch. CC&G will not be ready as of day one.”

Having a fully-functioning, pan-European clearer is likely to be crucial to the success or failure of Baikal, on which the LSE is pinning much of its hopes to expand beyond UK borders.

One senior market expert said: “For Baikal to get any traction it’s got to have a sophisticated clearing and settlement system. Whether CC&G can offer that across the piece is unclear, but we know that EMCF can offer that.”

Other market experts said that as interoperability spread across Europe, clearing fees would likely continue to fall, making it less attractive for the LSE to own a stake in a business like EMCF, which depends on cash equities clearing.

However industry sources have said that the Dutch government has for some time been looking to offload the Fortis stake in EMCF.