Intercontinental Exchange, an OTC marketplace for energy contracts, emerged as Risk Magazine’s derivatives exchange of the year for 2005.
The financial magazine’s annual awards are meant to acknowledge “best practices and innovation in the derivatives and risk management industries globally.” The panel of editors considered a number of factors, including innovation, infrastructure, organization, risk management, quality of post- sales service and customer feedback.
The magazine commended the exchange’s efforts in the transition of its futures business unit’s open-outcry trading floor in London to electronic trading, maintaining market operations through the US hurricane season and the transformation from a private company to a public one.
ICE transitioned its regulated IPE futures subsidiary, now known as ICE Futures, to a fully electronic marketplace in April 2005, resulting in increased volume due to the expansion of participants trading its markets. The move prompted the magazine to write, “The Atlanta-based energy exchange’s controversial decision to recast its business has boosted volumes dramatically – prompting praise from one-time sceptics, and making it a worthy recipient of Risk’s Derivatives Exchange of the Year Award.”
ICE completed its initial public offering in November and is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange.