ICE Trust Successfully Launches Customer Solution for CDS Clearing; Over $4.3 Trillion in CDS Cleared to Date Globally
December 14 2009 - 9:35AM
PR Newswire (US)
NEW YORK, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
IntercontinentalExchange® (NYSE:ICE), a leading operator of
regulated global futures exchanges, clearing houses and
over-the-counter (OTC) markets, announced that ICE Trust U.S. (ICE
Trust) has today begun clearing credit default swap (CDS) contracts
for buy-side market participants after receiving U.S. regulatory
approval. The first trades were accepted for clearing on a
real-time basis shortly after ICE Trust opened for clearing at 8:00
a.m. E.S.T. Twelve clearing members and ten buy-side firms
successfully participated in the pre-launch testing and the related
preparations in advance of today's launch. (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090727/CL51999LOGO ) Said
Dirk Pruis, President of ICE Trust: "We are pleased to have
expanded the important benefits of clearing to the CDS market more
broadly and we appreciate the industry's contribution to this
initiative. The collaboration of the buy-side and dealer community
played a key role in the successful development and launch of
customer clearing. ICE Trust has also worked closely with multiple
U.S. regulatory agencies to bring this facility for the reduction
of systemic risk, increased transparency and safety to these vital
markets." He added, "Customers will benefit from ICE's tested
clearing model, global clearing presence and scale. Our customers
value our experience clearing over-the-counter markets, in addition
to our industry-leading risk management model, strong independent
governance and the world's largest default fund." Developed in
conjunction with global buy-side participants and dealers, the
buy-side framework introduces trade-date clearing to the CDS market
for the first time, as well as providing for segregation of
customer funds and enhanced position and margin portability. The
open model permits firms to retain important trading and
contractual relationships including accepting transactions from a
range of competitive existing execution models. In addition, ICE
Link provides the infrastructure for connecting the major dealers,
inter-dealer brokers and over 400 buy-side firms and enabling
product standardization and post-trade processing. To date, ICE has
cleared over $4.3 trillion in notional value of CDS indexes in
North America and Europe and has aggregate open interest of $344
billion. ICE Trust commenced operations in March 2009 and has
cleared more than $3.1 trillion notional of North American index
(CDX) contracts to date. ICE Clear Europe began clearing European
index (iTraxx) contracts in July 2009 and has cleared euro 807
billion in notional. ICE Clear Europe earlier today announced that
it has begun clearing selected European single name CDS contracts.
ICE has established risk frameworks for its U.S. and European CDS
businesses that are separate from its futures businesses, including
separate risk models, guaranty funds and margin accounts, as well
as a CDS-focused risk management system and an independent
governance structure. Through ICE's CDS clearing services, ICE
provides a common infrastructure to global CDS market participants
within their respective regulatory jurisdictions, while leveraging
the legal framework, operational and risk management processes,
treasury systems and trade warehousing systems currently in use by
the industry. About IntercontinentalExchange
IntercontinentalExchange® (NYSE:ICE) operates leading regulated
exchanges, trading platforms and clearing houses serving the global
markets for agricultural, credit, currency, emissions, energy and
equity index markets. ICE Futures Europe® hosts trade in half of
the world's crude and refined oil futures. ICE Futures U.S.® and
ICE Futures Canada® list agricultural, currency and Russell Index
markets. ICE offers trade execution and processing for the credit
derivatives markets through Creditex and ICE Link(TM),
respectively, and CDS clearing through ICE Trust(TM) and ICE Clear
Europe®. A component of the Russell 1000® and S&P 500 indexes,
ICE® serves customers in more than 50 countries and is
headquartered in Atlanta, with offices in New York, London,
Chicago, Winnipeg, Calgary, Houston and Singapore.
http://www.theice.com/ Safe Harbor Statement under the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 - Statements in this press
release regarding IntercontinentalExchange's business that are not
historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve
risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and
uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from
those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but
not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, as filed with the SEC on
February 11, 2009.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090727/CL51999LOGODATASOURCE:
IntercontinentalExchange CONTACT: Kelly Loeffler, VP, Investor
Relations & Corp. Communications, IntercontinentalExchange,
+1-770-857-4726, , or Sarah Stashak, Director, Investor &
Public Relations, IntercontinentalExchange, +1-770-857-0340, Web
Site: http://www.theice.com/
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