CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced that it set new monthly records for clearing interest rate swaps (IRS) and credit default swaps (CDS). For the month of February, the company cleared $150.1 billion in combined OTC IRS and CDS volume, a 142% increase over the previous record monthly total of $61.9 billion set in November 2011.
CME Group provides the leading IRS and CDS clearing service by U.S. customer volume. As of March 2, 2012, the company has cleared more than $400 billion in OTC IRS and CDS through its multi-asset class clearing solution since launch. Additionally, open interest stands at $196 billion in IRS and $32.9 billion in CDS.
“We continue to see more buy side firms regularly clearing their OTC trades at CME Group, and in February we saw another strong volume uptick from customers who had not previously been actively clearing,” said Laurent Paulhac, CME Group managing director, OTC Products & Services. “Customers are voluntarily choosing to clear at CME Group ahead of the mandate, with over 1,300 buy side accounts holding open interest.”
The company also announced earlier in the month that it would expand its already robust clearing collateral program, effective March 12, 2012, to allow corporate bonds to be pledged as initial margin collateral for Cleared OTC Interest Rate Swaps. With this expansion, Clearing Members will be able to post up to $3 billion in select assets, including corporate bonds, with specific limits determined by the needs and margin requirements of their customers.
To learn more about CME Group’s OTC clearing offering, watch our latest video or visit our resources on IRS and CDS.
