clearinghouses (financial) en

Institutions established by firms engaged in similar activities to enable them to offset transactions with one another in order to limit payment settlements to net balances. Clearinghouses play an important role in settling transactions related to banks, railroads, stock and commodity exchanges, and international payments. The first modern bank clearinghouse was established in London in 1773, although the clearinghouse idea had been applied to various forms of trade in such places as Tokyo, Florence, and Lyon many centuries earlier. The first bank clearinghouse in the United States was established in New York in 1853.