ICE Clear Credit welcomes Intesa Sanpaolo as clearing participant
ICE Clear Credit clearing solutions offer clearing for more than 500 Single Name and Index CDS instruments referencing corporate and sovereign debt and have reduced counterparty risk exposure by clearing over $283 trillion in two-sided notional amount, with open interest of approximately $2.0 trillion.
Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A., Italy’s leading banking group, has become a clearing participant at ICE Clear Credit, the global clearinghouse for credit default swaps wholly owned by Intercontinental Exchange.
ICE Clear Credit provides a comprehensive product offering, robust mark-to-market services and state-of-the-art risk management approach. As a clearing participant, Intesa Sanpaolo will have access to industry-leading solutions for clearing Single Name and Index CDS instruments, as well CDS Index Option instruments referencing the major North American and European corporate indices.
“Paves the way to extend our offering to Italian financial institutions”
Stan Ivanov, President of ICE Clear Credit, said: “As a valuable and active bank group in Europe, we’re extremely pleased to have Intesa Sanpaolo join as a clearing participant. The addition of Intesa Sanpaolo to the world-class roster of clearing participants delivers further depth to our services and paves the way to extend our offering to Italian financial institutions.”
ICE Clear Credit clearing solutions offer clearing for more than 500 Single Name and Index CDS instruments referencing corporate and sovereign debt and have reduced counterparty risk exposure by clearing over $283 trillion in two-sided notional amount, with open interest of approximately $2.0 trillion.
ICE Clear Credit’s current margin on deposit is $55,412,000,000. In the event of a default, only the margin of the defaulting clearing participant and defaulting customer (if applicable, and subject to segregation laws) may be used for default management.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), Europe’s markets regulator, is considering whether to review the systemic status of Ice’s US operations, as the exchange group consolidates credit default swap (CDS) clearing in Chicago. The consolidation of CDS clearing in Chicago could increase regulatory requirements on the central counterparty (CCP). US-based Ice Clear Credit (ICC) is designated as a Tier 1 third-country CCP by ESMA, meaning it is not deemed a financial stability threat to the European Union.
The credit derivatives market is far smaller than it was before the 2008 crisis. According to data from the Bank for International Settlements, the gross market exposure of credit derivatives was $247 billion at the end of June 2022 versus $5.4 trillion at the end of 2008.
