ICE Launches Clearing for CDS Index Options

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. announced it has launched clearing for Credit Default Swap (CDS) Index Options, bringing greater capital efficiencies, price discovery and risk management to the CDS market. ICE Clear Credit now offers clearing of Index Options on the CDX North American Investment Grade and High Yield indices. Index Options on the iTraxx Europe indices are expected to be added in 2021. ICE Clear Credit’s Index Options solution provides a number of innovations including a common exercise-and-assignment platform where all market participants, dealers and buy-side, can perform time-critical decision making in a centralized, risk-managed and technologically advanced fashion. To establish a robust and transparent price discovery process, ICE Clear Credit uses an extension of its current end-of-day approach to Single Name and Index clearing to determine executable mark-to-market levels for CDS Index Options and provide convenient access to these daily prices.