ICE Clear Europe Announces First Cleared Freight Forward Agreement
By Intercontinentalexchange, PRNEWednesday, May 25, 2011
LONDON, May 26, 2011 -
IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of global
regulated futures exchanges, clearing houses and over-the-counter (OTC)
markets, today announced that ICE Clear Europe cleared its first freight
forward agreement (FFA).
The first cleared transaction, a wet freight, TD5 FFA - West Africa to
USAC (Baltic) Swap (WAU), was submitted to ICE Clear Europe on 24 May 2011 by
ICAP as broker to the transaction. Shell and Total confirmed their
participation as counterparties to the trade. ICE Clear Europe introduced
(ir.theice.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=559982) four dry and nine
wet freight forward agreements for clearing in April.
"Freight forward clearing offers important efficiencies for many
participants in ICE's energy markets and was a natural extension of the
portfolio already cleared by ICE Clear Europe," said David Peniket, President
of ICE Futures Europe. "We will continue to work closely with customers and
brokerage firms to support liquidity in the freight market."
Mark Nicholls, Head of ICAP Shipping Tanker Derivatives Ltd, added; "We
are delighted to have brokered the first OTC wet FFA trade cleared by ICE
Clear Europe, and to be providing this new service to our customers. We
believe ICE Clear Europe's presence as a clearer in the OTC tanker FFA market
and ICE's extensive open interest in oil and oil products will add great
liquidity to this growing market."
Freight represents a large commodity market, with volatility in spot and
long-term prices requiring active hedging and risk management practices.
Because of the strong correlations between freight and energy prices, ICE
Clear Europe offers margin offsets between freight, Gasoil and Brent and WTI
futures contracts.
ICE Clear Europe supports the risk management needs of member firms and
customers in ICE's global energy futures and OTC markets, as well as the
efficient development of new products. In 2002, ICE pioneered the concept of
cleared OTC energy contracts, which provide participants with access to
centralized clearing and settlement arrangements while reducing bilateral
credit risk.
About IntercontinentalExchange
IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE) is a leading operator of regulated
futures exchanges and over-the-counter markets for agricultural, credit,
currency, emissions, energy and equity index contracts. ICE Futures Europe
hosts trade in half of the world's crude and refined oil futures. ICE Futures
U.S. and ICE Futures Canada list agricultural, currencies and Russell Index
markets. ICE is also a leading operator of central clearing services for the
futures and over-the-counter markets, with five regulated clearing houses
across North America and Europe. ICE serves customers in more than 70
countries. www.theice.com
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of 1995 - Statements in this press release regarding
IntercontinentalExchange's business that are not historical facts are
"forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a
discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual
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limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2010, as filed with the SEC on February 9, 2011.
ICE-ENGY
Media: Lee Underwood, Director, Communications, IntercontinentalExchange, +1-770-857-0342, lee.underwood at theice.com; or Investors: Kelly Loeffler, VP Investor Relations & Corp. Communications, IntercontinentalExchange, +1-770-857-4726, kelly.loeffler at theice.com
Tags: IntercontinentalExchange, London, May 26, United Kingdom