For the past year, as politicians have grappled to get their heads around the perils of complex finance, many have been seeking a handy magic wand that might produce a reform fix (or, at the very least, give them something they can explain, and wave to voters on prime time television).

The phrase “clearing house” has often been regarded as one such, seemingly magic wand. After all, even the most financially illiterate politician can see how many trillions of derivatives deals currently exist. They can also understand how the complexity and opacity of these contracts contributed to the financial panic in the autumn of 2008 (even if derivatives per se, did not cause this drama).