IntercontinentalExchange(R) (NYSE:ICE) ,today announced that ICE US Trust, LLC (ICE Trust), a New York limited liability trust company, will begin processing and clearing credit default swap (CDS) index transactions on March 9, 2009. Clearing of North American Markit CDX indexes is expected to be followed by liquid single-name CDS in the following months. ICE Trust has entered into an agreement with Markit to produce daily settlement prices required for mark-to-market pricing, margining and clearing.
ICE also announced the closing of its acquisition of The Clearing Corporation (TCC) on March 6, 2009. TCC developed the CDS risk management framework, operational processes and infrastructure for ICE Trust's clearing operations.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today issued an exemptive order permitting ICE Trust to clear CDS transactions. In December 2008, ICE Trust received approval from the New York State Banking Department (NYBD), and on March 5, 2009, the Superintendent of the NYBD issued the authorization certificate to ICE Trust to commence business as a regulated bank based in New York. These approvals, combined with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors' approval received on March 4, mark the completion of the required regulatory reviews prior to the launch of ICE Trust.
"Regulatory approval allows ICE Trust to bring to market the most comprehensive range of CDS clearing and risk management services available today," said Jeffrey C. Sprecher, Chairman and CEO of ICE. "ICE Trust has been designed to further enhance well-functioning CDS markets by reducing counterparty and systemic risks, and increasing transparency and capital efficiency in the CDS markets. ICE will continue to work closely with the Federal Reserve and other regulatory bodies in the U.S. and abroad in implementing risk management solutions for the vital credit markets."
"Robust counterparty risk management is a cornerstone to the success of privately negotiated derivatives and of the ISDA architecture," said Eraj Shirvani, ISDA Chairman and Head of Fixed Income for EMEA, Credit Suisse. "The development of options that deliver strength, flexibility and transparency to clearing and settlement are key to the evolution of CDS. We in the industry welcome solutions that help us achieve these goals."
Bank of America, Barclays Capital, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS have supported the establishment of the clearing house for CDS transactions, and are the initial clearing members of ICE Trust. Each of these participants has completed a rigorous technical testing and validation process over the past several months. In addition, each member has made a significant contribution to establish the ICE Trust guaranty fund, which will continue to increase as positions are transferred into the clearing house.
TCC's risk management systems were developed internally based on a proprietary risk assessment methodology designed specifically for the CDS market, and have been reviewed and validated by Finance Concepts, an independent risk management consultancy, as part of the regulatory review process. TCC's methodology will be used by the clearing house to determine initial and variation margin requirements, guaranty fund requirements and official daily settlement prices.
Friday, 6 March 2009
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Tower Group Completes CastlePoint
Tower Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWGP) today announced that it has completed its acquisition of CastlePoint Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ: CPHL) in a transaction valued at $531 million based on Tower’s current market price. Tower announced a definitive agreement to acquire CastlePoint on August 5, 2008. All closing conditions have been met.
With the close of the transaction, CastlePoint shares (NASDAQ: CPHL) will be delisted from the NASDAQ.
With the close of the transaction, CastlePoint shares (NASDAQ: CPHL) will be delisted from the NASDAQ.
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
CSC DealRoom
Corporation Service Company® (CSC), has released the CSC DealRoom. The CSC DealRoom enables clients to receive documents from CSC electronically into a customizable deal workspace, so they can collaborate with outside counsel, and manage, organize and close deals more efficiently.
The introduction of CSC's DealRoom follows the company's successful implementation of comprehensive matter management and electronic billing systems that provide collaboration tools and automatic integration of electronic service of process delivery.
The CSC DealRoom, available exclusively from CSC, delivers electronic images of client documents directly into a virtual deal workspace helping clients to manage and organize every phase of a deal from marketing to due diligence to closing. It is a highly secure environment set-up to manage critical data, tasks, and deal documents, and enables collaboration with associated parties using role-based access. Each CSC DealRoom has fully customized workflows, checklists, task assignments with alerts, along with comprehensive reporting and audit tools. The result is a streamlined and collaborative platform designed to help mitigate risk and reduce cost for clients throughout the deal process.
"CSC DealRoom is a logical extension of the corporate and legal services we perform for our clients," said Bruce R. Winn, President and Chief Executive Officer of CSC. "This expansion further demonstrates the winning combination of innovative technology and superior service that are the hallmark of CSC, and reflects our strategy to invest in services that address our clients' most critical business requirements over the long term."
The new CSC DealRoom ascribes to the emerging technology approach referred to as software as a service (SaaS) which delivers solutions via a network, most often the Web, which shifts the burden of getting and keeping an enterprise application up and running from the client to the vendor. This approach translates to several advantages for clients: faster implementation, easier access to current technology, and lower costs due to little to no need for IT involvement, expense, or resources.
The introduction of CSC's DealRoom follows the company's successful implementation of comprehensive matter management and electronic billing systems that provide collaboration tools and automatic integration of electronic service of process delivery.
The CSC DealRoom, available exclusively from CSC, delivers electronic images of client documents directly into a virtual deal workspace helping clients to manage and organize every phase of a deal from marketing to due diligence to closing. It is a highly secure environment set-up to manage critical data, tasks, and deal documents, and enables collaboration with associated parties using role-based access. Each CSC DealRoom has fully customized workflows, checklists, task assignments with alerts, along with comprehensive reporting and audit tools. The result is a streamlined and collaborative platform designed to help mitigate risk and reduce cost for clients throughout the deal process.
"CSC DealRoom is a logical extension of the corporate and legal services we perform for our clients," said Bruce R. Winn, President and Chief Executive Officer of CSC. "This expansion further demonstrates the winning combination of innovative technology and superior service that are the hallmark of CSC, and reflects our strategy to invest in services that address our clients' most critical business requirements over the long term."
The new CSC DealRoom ascribes to the emerging technology approach referred to as software as a service (SaaS) which delivers solutions via a network, most often the Web, which shifts the burden of getting and keeping an enterprise application up and running from the client to the vendor. This approach translates to several advantages for clients: faster implementation, easier access to current technology, and lower costs due to little to no need for IT involvement, expense, or resources.
Monday, 2 February 2009
BNY Mellon Asset Servicing In Belgian Win
BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, the global leader in securities servicing,has been appointed by KBC, a Belgian bancassurance group, to provide U.S. equity trading services.
BNY Mellon Asset Servicing will provide KBC with seamless trading across the complete lifecycle of a U.S equity trade, from order capture to execution in the market, affirmation/confirmation, clearing, settlement and reporting via the company's BNY ExecutionPlus platform.
BNY ExecutionPlus fully integrates BNY Mellon's market-leading, custody, clearing and settlement services with Pershing LLC's extensive global execution capabilities, allowing financial institutions based outside of the United States to execute and settle bank custody trades in the U.S. equity markets via a single instruction to purchase or sell. Pershing is a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation.
BNY ExecutionPlus also provides clients with the ability to utilise Pershing's online brokerage platform, NetExchange Pro(R). NetExchange Pro enables investment professionals at financial organizations to access account information, quotes, investment research, news and other third-party content.
Luc Aspeslagh, Managing Director Securities Services at KBC Securities, said: "BNY ExecutionPlus allows us to address the operational risk associated with trading in the U.S. markets and by streamlining our trading process we in turn can provide our clients with the best possible services. It also offers clear economic advantages, as payment of a single, bundled commission that covers all transaction processing costs will clearly benefit our bottom line."
Nadine Chakar, Executive Vice-President and Head of Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) at BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, said: "BNY Mellon's world-class integrated custody capabilities and the power of Pershing's global execution and clearing platform together deliver a single, dynamic solution to those financial organisations seeking efficient and accurate technology to optimise the management of their investments. We are delighted to be working in partnership with KBC and we look forward to assisting them in implementing further efficiencies within their investment processes."
Frank La Salla, Managing Director of the global securities services group at Pershing, said: "This appointment further demonstrates The Bank of New York Mellon's ability to provide financial institutions with a comprehensive and seamless offering to help them meet their sophisticated trading and settlement needs. We remain fully committed to developing and delivering market-leading solutions to our clients as they look to grow their businesses in today's challenging capital markets environment."
BNY Mellon Asset Servicing will provide KBC with seamless trading across the complete lifecycle of a U.S equity trade, from order capture to execution in the market, affirmation/confirmation, clearing, settlement and reporting via the company's BNY ExecutionPlus platform.
BNY ExecutionPlus fully integrates BNY Mellon's market-leading, custody, clearing and settlement services with Pershing LLC's extensive global execution capabilities, allowing financial institutions based outside of the United States to execute and settle bank custody trades in the U.S. equity markets via a single instruction to purchase or sell. Pershing is a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation.
BNY ExecutionPlus also provides clients with the ability to utilise Pershing's online brokerage platform, NetExchange Pro(R). NetExchange Pro enables investment professionals at financial organizations to access account information, quotes, investment research, news and other third-party content.
Luc Aspeslagh, Managing Director Securities Services at KBC Securities, said: "BNY ExecutionPlus allows us to address the operational risk associated with trading in the U.S. markets and by streamlining our trading process we in turn can provide our clients with the best possible services. It also offers clear economic advantages, as payment of a single, bundled commission that covers all transaction processing costs will clearly benefit our bottom line."
Nadine Chakar, Executive Vice-President and Head of Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) at BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, said: "BNY Mellon's world-class integrated custody capabilities and the power of Pershing's global execution and clearing platform together deliver a single, dynamic solution to those financial organisations seeking efficient and accurate technology to optimise the management of their investments. We are delighted to be working in partnership with KBC and we look forward to assisting them in implementing further efficiencies within their investment processes."
Frank La Salla, Managing Director of the global securities services group at Pershing, said: "This appointment further demonstrates The Bank of New York Mellon's ability to provide financial institutions with a comprehensive and seamless offering to help them meet their sophisticated trading and settlement needs. We remain fully committed to developing and delivering market-leading solutions to our clients as they look to grow their businesses in today's challenging capital markets environment."
Forex Capital Markets LLC (www.fxcm.com) today announced it has reached an agreement to acquire certain assets of the U.S. retail forex business of Hotspot FXr LLC to further expand the liquidity offered via its Active Trader platform. Hotspot FXr's affiliate, Hotspot FXi LLC, will continue to offer its platform for institutional FX trading.
"Hotspot FXr is a major innovator in the field of fair and transparent pricing. While the retail clients of Hotspot FXr will be moving to a new platform, they will continue to receive pricing which is free of influences from the dealing desk," said Drew Niv, CEO of Forex Capital Markets (FXCM). "Every price is derived from a major bank and every trade is offset. FXCM and Hotspot FXr share the same fair pricing principles."
Hotspot FXr's retail forex business is a perfect fit with FXCM's focus on expanding its Active Trader Group. FXCM's Active Trader platform was developed to meet the needs of non-institutional traders exceeding $10 million in monthly volume. The Active Trader platform is revolutionary in the retail forex space, offering pricing transparency, with a five level display of market depth.
The deep liquidity available through FXCM's Active Trader platform derives from the firm's long standing liquidity relationships with many of the world's largest banks and financial institutions. The platform provides agency (no dealing desk) execution where all trades are offset, with FXCM taking no market risk. This enables FXCM to focus on obtaining competitive pricing and providing the best technology to its clients.
"Hotspot FXr is a major innovator in the field of fair and transparent pricing. While the retail clients of Hotspot FXr will be moving to a new platform, they will continue to receive pricing which is free of influences from the dealing desk," said Drew Niv, CEO of Forex Capital Markets (FXCM). "Every price is derived from a major bank and every trade is offset. FXCM and Hotspot FXr share the same fair pricing principles."
Hotspot FXr's retail forex business is a perfect fit with FXCM's focus on expanding its Active Trader Group. FXCM's Active Trader platform was developed to meet the needs of non-institutional traders exceeding $10 million in monthly volume. The Active Trader platform is revolutionary in the retail forex space, offering pricing transparency, with a five level display of market depth.
The deep liquidity available through FXCM's Active Trader platform derives from the firm's long standing liquidity relationships with many of the world's largest banks and financial institutions. The platform provides agency (no dealing desk) execution where all trades are offset, with FXCM taking no market risk. This enables FXCM to focus on obtaining competitive pricing and providing the best technology to its clients.
Dubai Completes Migration to CME Globex
CME Group, and the Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited (DME), an energy futures and commodities exchange based in the Middle East, announced today that they have successfully completed the migration of DME's contracts to the CME Globex(R) electronic trading platform.
The successful transition enables the world's three crude oil benchmarks - WTI, Brent and Oman - to trade on the same platform alongside CME Group products across all major asset classes. The DME contracts will be accessible for trading beginning 18:00 EST on Sunday, February 1, equivalent to 03:00 Dubai and 07:00 Singapore on Monday, February 2. Clearing will continue to process through the NYMEX clearing house until it is integrated with CME Clearing.
Welcoming the move, Ahmad Sharaf, Chairman, DME, commented, "This migration is not only a strong step forward in the growth of the DME's existing contracts but is also a mark of the success that the DME has achieved in building robust contracts recognized and traded by leading industry participants. The visibility and reach offered by the CME Globex platform will dramatically increase the global exposure of both the DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract, and the DME Oman Crude Oil Financial Contract, which also successfully migrated to the CME Globex platform on February 2."
"The transition of DME's contracts to CME Globex further represents the benefits of merging the NYMEX businesses with CME Group, not only increasing the distribution of the contracts to a global set of hedgers and investors, but also opening up new possibilities for arbitrage and other sophisticated trading strategies on a single, virtually 24-hour platform," said Terry Duffy, CME Group Executive Chairman. "These benefits are available to established users of our markets as well as the new participants we welcome along with the DME contracts."
DME CEO Thomas Leaver added, "The DME Crude Oil Futures Contract is recognized as the crude oil benchmark for the East of Suez region, and as such is increasingly used for efficient price risk management as well as affording arbitrage opportunities with the other crude oil pricing regions. This next step in our development will open the contract to a new and diverse set of market participants, and we will continue to work with our core stakeholders, strategic partners, and existing customers and traders to build on this momentum throughout 2009 to identify avenues of growth that will drive the DME to new heights."
The successful transition enables the world's three crude oil benchmarks - WTI, Brent and Oman - to trade on the same platform alongside CME Group products across all major asset classes. The DME contracts will be accessible for trading beginning 18:00 EST on Sunday, February 1, equivalent to 03:00 Dubai and 07:00 Singapore on Monday, February 2. Clearing will continue to process through the NYMEX clearing house until it is integrated with CME Clearing.
Welcoming the move, Ahmad Sharaf, Chairman, DME, commented, "This migration is not only a strong step forward in the growth of the DME's existing contracts but is also a mark of the success that the DME has achieved in building robust contracts recognized and traded by leading industry participants. The visibility and reach offered by the CME Globex platform will dramatically increase the global exposure of both the DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract, and the DME Oman Crude Oil Financial Contract, which also successfully migrated to the CME Globex platform on February 2."
"The transition of DME's contracts to CME Globex further represents the benefits of merging the NYMEX businesses with CME Group, not only increasing the distribution of the contracts to a global set of hedgers and investors, but also opening up new possibilities for arbitrage and other sophisticated trading strategies on a single, virtually 24-hour platform," said Terry Duffy, CME Group Executive Chairman. "These benefits are available to established users of our markets as well as the new participants we welcome along with the DME contracts."
DME CEO Thomas Leaver added, "The DME Crude Oil Futures Contract is recognized as the crude oil benchmark for the East of Suez region, and as such is increasingly used for efficient price risk management as well as affording arbitrage opportunities with the other crude oil pricing regions. This next step in our development will open the contract to a new and diverse set of market participants, and we will continue to work with our core stakeholders, strategic partners, and existing customers and traders to build on this momentum throughout 2009 to identify avenues of growth that will drive the DME to new heights."
Monday, 5 January 2009
ICE Exclusivity With Natural Gas Intelligence
IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE:ICE) , in accordance with the terms of its agreement with Intelligence Press, Inc. (IPI), ICE will have the exclusive right to license the natural gas indices published in the Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) newsletters for exchange settlement and clearing beginning May 1, 2009.
ICE contracts referencing NGI indices and delivery points do not require modification as the exclusivity period takes effect. Market participants with existing positions benchmarked to NGI data who wish to maintain their positions may transfer open interest to ICE using ICE's block trade capabilities.
In March 2007, ICE entered into a purchase and leaseback agreement with IPI for the exclusive right to license the NGI indices. IPI continues to collect, aggregate and publish prices in the wholesale natural gas market. In addition to providing daily and monthly spot price discovery for the industry, NGI's indices are used by ICE and other licensees for daily and monthly settlement and clearing, particularly in the Canadian, Midwest and California natural gas markets.
ICE contracts referencing NGI indices and delivery points do not require modification as the exclusivity period takes effect. Market participants with existing positions benchmarked to NGI data who wish to maintain their positions may transfer open interest to ICE using ICE's block trade capabilities.
In March 2007, ICE entered into a purchase and leaseback agreement with IPI for the exclusive right to license the NGI indices. IPI continues to collect, aggregate and publish prices in the wholesale natural gas market. In addition to providing daily and monthly spot price discovery for the industry, NGI's indices are used by ICE and other licensees for daily and monthly settlement and clearing, particularly in the Canadian, Midwest and California natural gas markets.
Corporation Service Company
Corporation Service Company serves as a leading provider of legal and financial services for the world's largest companies, law firms, and financial institutions. Founded in 1899, CSC, a service company, remains dedicated to helping mitigate risk and reducing costs for our clients; while providing matter and deal management; corporate identity protection; corporate governance and compliance; and transactional support services. Our systems are fully integrated with our monitoring, workflow, compliance and reporting solutions. To learn more about CSC, and take advantage of our unique brand of service, visit www.cscglobal.com.
Saturday, 3 January 2009
ICE to Start Clearing Agricultural Swaps
IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE) , an operator of regulated global futures exchanges and over-the- counter (OTC) markets, announced today that ICE Clear U.S.(TM) will begin clearing sugar, coffee and cocoa swap contracts on January 30, 2009.
As previously announced, the three contracts will be cleared by ICE Clear U.S. and will be cash-settled at expiration based on the settlement prices of the related traded futures contract. Qualifying swap agreements will be submitted to the Market Supervision department of ICE Futures U.S.(R), which will expedite the contracts for clearing.
The new cleared swaps are the first such contracts offered by ICE and are specifically designed to meet the needs of OTC market participants. ICE Clear U.S.'s September 2007 application to clear these swaps was approved by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on December 12, 2008.
As previously announced, the three contracts will be cleared by ICE Clear U.S. and will be cash-settled at expiration based on the settlement prices of the related traded futures contract. Qualifying swap agreements will be submitted to the Market Supervision department of ICE Futures U.S.(R), which will expedite the contracts for clearing.
The new cleared swaps are the first such contracts offered by ICE and are specifically designed to meet the needs of OTC market participants. ICE Clear U.S.'s September 2007 application to clear these swaps was approved by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on December 12, 2008.
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