Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, today announced that subject to relevant regulatory approvals, ICE Futures Europe plans to launch one month and three month, cash-settled futures contracts based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) on October 1, 2018.
ICE also intends to offer futures on Euro and Swiss Franc alternative risk free interest rates once the underlying benchmarks on these currencies become available. The SOFR launch follows the introduction of the ICE One Month and Three Month SONIA futuresin December 2017 and June 2018. Together, ICE SOFR and ICE SONIA futures provide a global offering to trade and hedge alternative risk free rates alongside Euribor, Sterling, Euroswiss, Gilt and other interest rate benchmarks.
ICE Futures Europe President, Stuart Williams said: “The introduction of SOFR futures extends our offering to U.S. alternative risk free rates and complements our strategy to provide choice in global interest rate markets. Our range of interest rate futures and options contracts continues to grow to cover more geographies, currencies and tenors.”
The ICE interest rate franchise is building on last year’s solid growth with average daily volume and open interest across the complex up 6% and 11% y/y through July 31. ICE’s SONIA futures continue to see growth with more than 60,000 contracts traded since launch, representing around £128 billion notional value.
