ICE Clears $5 Trillion of Swaps in Single Week
January 25, 2010
IntercontinentalExchange ICE said that its clearing houses cleared $5 trillion worth of credit default swaps during the week ending January 22.
The exchange said its North American operation cleared about $3.5 trillion worth of swaps. Its European clearing house for swaps, ICE Clear Europe, cleared contracts worth 1 trillion euro ($1.5 trillion).
The marks come less than a year after ICE, which operated regulated global futures exchanges, clearing houses and over-the-counter (OTC) markets, began clearing credit default swaps.
"Five trillion dollars in CDS cleared is an important milestone in the reduction of systemic risk, and a significant technical achievement," said ICE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher, in announcing the marks.
He said the clearing operation, which handle both index- and single-name contracts, is backed by a $3 billion "guarantee fund" dedicated to credit default swaps.
ICE Clear Europe began processing swaps in July and single-name instruments in December.
ICE Trust, its North American swaps clearing house, began clearing indices in March and single-name instruments in December.
