CME Group Sets Monthly Record for Cleared OTC Interest Rate Swaps and Credit Default Swaps in October, and Announces Further OTC Product Expansion

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Nov 09, 2011, 11:26 ET

CHICAGO, Nov. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced that it set new monthly records for clearing interest rate swaps (IRS) and credit default swaps (CDS). For the month of October, the company cleared $45.5 billion in OTC IRS and CDS volume, including $6 billion in dealer-to-dealer volume, exceeding the previous record monthly total of $41.9 billion in September 2011.

As of November 8, 2011, the company has cleared more than $99 billion in OTC IRS and CDS through its open clearing solutions since launch. Additionally, open interest stood at $77.3 billion in IRS and $7.9 billion in CDS.

CME Group also expanded its existing CDS offering on November 7, 2011, with the launch of the CDX high yield indices, which cleared $644 million in its first two days. This new offering is in addition to the launch of Euro-denominated IRS on October 17, which has cleared more than euro 4.5 billion to date. By year-end, CME Group will extend its IRS offering to include the British pound, Japanese yen, Swiss franc and Canadian dollar-denominated IRS. According to data from the Bank for International Settlements, these six currencies account for 94 percent of the vanilla IRS market.

"CME Group has worked diligently with market participants to build the leading OTC clearing service by U.S. customer volume," said Laurent Paulhac, CME Group Managing Director, OTC Products & Services. "Our continued momentum with customer acquisition and product expansion is leading to continuous volume growth, including inter-dealer clearing where we've started to see some very material activity last month. We are very pleased with the support we are receiving from our customers and dealer partners, leading to clearing activity on our newly launched EUR IRS and CDX HY products."

"BofA Merrill Lynch continues to assist clients in counterparty risk management through the early adoption of OTC clearing," said Bob Burke, Global Head of OTC Clearing at BofA Merrill Lynch. "The continued growth in open interest at CME Group coupled with their expanded IRS and CDS product range allows our clients to proactively clear their OTC derivative trades. Early uptake is key in preparing clients for mandatory clearing by allowing them enough time to adjust their own internal processes and procedures."

"UBS continues to partner closely with CME Group in the transition to central clearing for OTC derivatives," said Mark Daniels, Head of Clearing Sales - UBS Americas. "Early participation through voluntarily clearing is an invaluable opportunity for infrastructure and process optimization ahead of the mandatory deadline. UBS is committed to ensuring our clients are fully prepared and we welcome the recent increase in OTC clearing activity as well as an expanded product scope at CME Group."

To learn more about CME Group's OTC clearing offering, visit our resources on IRS and CDS.

As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage risk. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate. CME Group brings buyers and sellers together through its CME Globex® electronic trading platform and its trading facilities in New York and Chicago. CME Group also operates CME Clearing, one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, which offers clearing and settlement services for exchange-traded contracts, as well as for over-the-counter derivatives transactions through CME ClearPort®. These products and services ensure that businesses everywhere can substantially mitigate counterparty credit risk in both listed and over-the-counter derivatives markets.

CME Group is a trademark of CME Group Inc. The Globe Logo, CME, Globex and Chicago Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and the Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are registered trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Further information about CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) and its products can be found at www.cmegroup.com.

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