ICE Trust Announces Addition of Newest Clearing Member
Global Buy-Side Solution on Track for October
IntercontinentalExchange(R) (NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of regulated global futures exchanges, clearing houses and over-the-counter (OTC) markets, today announced that BNP Paribas was approved as a clearing member of ICE Trust U.S. (ICE Trust(TM)) and is actively clearing beginning this week. BNP Paribas is the thirteenth clearing member of ICE Trust.
ICE Trust is the leading regulated U.S. credit default swap (CDS) clearing house and ICE Clear Europe(R) is the leading regulated CDS clearing house in Europe. Combined, ICE’s CDS clearing houses have cleared $2.2 trillion in notional value to date, covering more than 24,000 transactions. As of August 31, 2009, ICE’s CDS clearing houses had the largest pool of capital dedicated to a single derivatives product globally, with over $2.3 billion in cash in guaranty fund deposits.
ICE Trust has cleared $1.9 trillion notional across 22,000 transactions in North American CDS indexes since March, resulting in open interest of $187 billion. Since its launch on July 29, ICE Clear Europe has cleared euro 204 billion ($290 billion) in notional value across 2,000 European CDS index transactions, with open interest of euro 22 billion ($31 billion). ICE Clear Europe currently has 11 CDS clearing members. Both ICE Trust and ICE Clear Europe remain on schedule to introduce clearing for single-name CDS contracts in late September 2009.
ICE’s buy-side clearing initiative is on track to launch in October 2009, subject to regulatory approvals. Developed in conjunction with the buy-side participants and dealers in both the U.S. and Europe, ICE’s buy-side solution offers a global roadmap for the industry’s transition to clearing, which is well underway. The framework permits firms to retain trading relationships and a range of competitive execution models, while providing segregation of customer funds and positions, as well as enhanced position and margin portability.
ICE has established separate CDS risk pools for ICE Trust and ICE Clear Europe, including separate guaranty funds and margin accounts, as well as a CDS-focused risk management system and independent governance structure. Through ICE’s CDS clearing service, ICE is providing a common infrastructure to global CDS market participants within their respective regulatory jurisdictions, while leveraging clearing systems and risk management processes already in use by the industry.
ICE operates five clearing houses, including ICE Clear U.S.(R), ICE Clear Europe, ICE Clear Canada(R), ICE Trust and The Clearing Corporation(TM). ICE Clear Europe also provides separate clearing services for ICE’s global futures and cleared OTC energy markets.
