ICE Clear Europe to Clear Western European Sovereign CDS

ICE Clear Europe will begin clearing Western European Sovereign Credit Default Swaps (CDS) on April 28, 2014, pending regulatory approval, making it the first clearinghouse to clear this type of CDS.
By Jake Safane(2147484770)
ICE Clear Europe will begin clearing Western European Sovereign Credit Default Swaps (CDS) on April 28, 2014, pending regulatory approval, making it the first clearinghouse to clear this type of CDS.

ICE Clear Europe will clear instruments from Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The clearinghouse has extended its CDS risk model and margin methodology to handle these swaps, including adding risk model considerations for country-specific exposure.

“This is an important initiative for our industry, and we have worked closely with regulators and market participants to extend our European CDS services to clear sovereign reference entities. ICE recognizes the importance of developing additional clearing services in response to customer requirements and within a dynamic policy and market environment,” says Paul Swann, president, ICE Clear Europe.

ICE was also the first to launch a CDS clearinghouse when it did so five years ago with ICE Clear Credit, followed by ICE Clear Europe a few months later. In 2011, ICE Clear Credit became the first central counterparty to clear sovereign CDS with the introduction of Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Russia and Turkey single names.

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