TRADING PACES: Portfolio Margining Gets Put on ICE
January 31, 2012
ICE Clear Credit now offers “one pot” margining for credit default swap instruments held by its clearing participants. Plus, Torstone launches settlement software for multiple front office systems, 40 Gigabit Ethernet sails into TS-Associates’ ports, QuantHouse starts feeding HotSpot FX and Corvil steps up its teamwork.
IntercontinentalExchange: ICE Clear Credit now offers portfolio margining for proprietary positions held by its clearing participants.
This will allow for more efficient collateralization of opposite positions in index and correlated single-name credit default swap instruments.
ICE Clear Credit said it received approval for clearing participant portfolio margining from the Securities and Exchange Commission and that it is self-certified with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. "The ability to margin accounts on a consolidated portfolio basis is necessary to encourage increased clearing, reduce systemic risk during times of stress, and provide capital efficiencies for market participants," said ICE Clear Credit President Christopher Edmonds.
Torstone Technology: The software supplier launched what it said it believed to be the first major release of post-trade securities and derivatives settlement software in almost a decade. The software, called Inferno, is aimed at regional and mid-sized investment banks, asset managers, hedge funds and brokers. The clearing, settlement and integrated accounting application supports multi-asset, multi-currency and multi-location operations. Inferno capture trades from multiple front office systems and connects with clearing houses, globally. Inferno is an online service.
“Inferno was born out of the shortcomings and inflexibility of other settlement systems to meet the processing requirements of a wide range of instruments, complex trades, multiple venues and the demands of very high volumes,” said Torstone Technology Chairman and Chief Executive Brian Collings.
TS-Associates: The trading systems developer introduced ultra high bandwidth TipOff appliances supporting 12 by 1 Gigabit Ethernet, 8 by 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 2 by 40 Gigabit Ethernet capture ports, all in the space of the equivalent of two blades in a server rack.
“By offering this unprecedented port density and high bandwidth capture capability, we are extending the TipOff G5 product range at the high end to support our customers’ most demanding requirements,’’ said Henry Young, TS-Associates CEO.
QuantHouse: The trading services firm said it had begun allowing algorithmic trading firms sub-millisecond access to Hotspot FX, one of the leading electronic marketplaces in foreign exchange.
The Hotspot FX feed handler allows clients to use ultra-low latency technologies to access Hotspot FX’s program trading applications. QuantHouse’s ultra-low latency market data program, QuantFeed, captures raw data from the exchange, performs sub-millisecond decoding and delivers normalized data through a single API (application programming interface).
Corvil: The provider of latency management systems said its CorvilNet platform now supports multiple trading businesses and support teams in the same organization. A single CorvilNet installation can now serve multiple departments with relevant analysis and metrics. Executives, trading desks, trade support teams and infrastructure teams will have one-click access to real-time and historical views, tailored to their requirements.
