The Clearing Corporation (CCorp.) has sold a minority ownership stake to GFI Group Inc. and ICAP plc, and with their help developed joint clearing services for OTC derivatives products, including credit and interest rate derivatives.
“With this deal and other things we are looking forward to, we are entering the OTC space significantly,” says Brett F. Paulson, Clearing Corp. chief operating officer and president. “We launched the benchmark Treasury futures, which trade OTC. With this partnership, we should be able to define some things specifically in the credit derivatives space, which we will be launching by the early second quarter.”
Paulson declined to comment on the amount of equity purchased or the amount paid. Through the last two years, CCorp. has been making a concerted effort to raise volume at the clearinghouse, and cross-asset clearing, especially for OTC derivatives, has presented itself as a way to increase volume, according to Paulson.
In August 2004, CCorp. acquired onExchange Inc., creator of the Concero OTC clearing platform, in an effort to create a more flexible technology solution for clearing all contracts.
“This is a dream alternative,” says Richard Jaycobs, former CEO of Clearing Corp. and onExchange, adding that ICAP and GFI could contribute significant order flow.
