Milestone for SwapsWire

February 26, 2007

London-based over-the-counter derivatives platform SwapsWire said it doubled its volume last year, handling more than 1 million trade events for the first time. The post-trade workflow servicer defines trade events as unwinds, option exercises and other trade-life-cycle changes in addition to newly executed trades. The company said that 74 percent of 2006 trade events were new deals, down from 86 percent in 2005, highlighting the importance of life-cycle events in post-trade automation.

"We are delighted with the take-up of our services across the market," said Chip Carver, CEO of SwapsWire, which opened in 2002, handles numerous product classes including interest rate and credit default swaps (CDS), and is owned by 21 leading derivatives dealers. "Volumes on the buy side increased by a factor of eight in 2006, and the momentum is continuing in 2007," Carver added. "Overall, our volume growth is being driven by both an increase in client numbers and by existing clients using new products and features."

SwapsWire also revealed that its equity derivatives volume in January, spurred by both share and index options, exceeded the previous record month by 30 percent. Equity derivatives are getting the regulatory and sell-side back-office attention that CDS began to attract two years ago. SwapsWire said that more than 95 percent of equity options on the platform are confirmed within 30 minutes, 99.5 percent within three hours.