ELX Selects OCC
December 15, 2008
ELX Electronic Liquidity Exchange, the consortium-backed futures market expected to launch next year, has chosen Options Clearing Corp. (OCC) as its clearing provider. In a statement issued Dec. 9, ELX chief executive Neal Wolkoff cited OCC's "financial strength, its 35 years of clearing experience and its extensive service offering."
"As a new exchange, ELX has the opportunity to engage best-of-breed service providers at every stage of development to meet the demands of the high-volume, computer-driven strategies of today's market participants," added Wolkoff, a former American Stock Exchange chairman and CEO who joined ELX in October. "The OCC offers the right capabilities to support ELX's planned launch of electronic trading in U.S. interest rate futures, plus the ability to accommodate our growth plans."
Wayne Luthringshausen, OCC chairman and CEO, said that the Chicago-based clearinghouse "welcomes the opportunity to assist ELX with its mission to bring enhanced liquidity and reliability to the global futures market." In October, NYSE Euronext announced that its U.S. futures exchange, which began operations one month earlier, will clear through OCC by second-quarter 2009.
ELX, whose investors include Bank of America Corp., Barclays Capital, BGC Partners, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Securities, Getco, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Merrill Lynch & Co., Peak6-Breakwater and Royal Bank of Scotland, also said last week that it has filed an application with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to become a designated contract market. Another founder, Citadel Investment Group, reportedly has relinquished its spot on ELX's board but retained its holding. In October, Citadel announced that it is forming a joint venture with future ELX competitor CME Group to provide clearing for over-the-counter derivatives.
