RBC Capital Markets has joined Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Clear Credit as a futures commission merchant (FCM). RBC becomes the first FCM participant at ICE Clear Credit with a Canadian parent company.
“We are excited to announce the launch of credit default swap (CDS) clearing on ICE Clear Credit,” said Eric Aldous, head of futures at RBC Capital Markets. “This builds on our FCM offering and complements our capabilities for Futures and Interest Rate Swaps, deepening our client relationships and providing new growth opportunities.”
Stan Ivanov, president of ICE Clear Credit, welcomed RBC’s participation, noting it reflects the growing demand for efficient and resilient risk management through central clearing. Ivanov emphasised that ICE Clear Credit’s services intend to support transparent and competitive markets, responding effectively to evolving regulatory and capital requirements.
Established by ICE in 2009, ICE Clear Credit reports providing clearing services for over 650 credit default swap instruments, including single-name, index, and index options referencing corporate and sovereign debt. According to ICE, the clearinghouse has cleared trades totalling a combined notional amount exceeding US$385 trillions since inception, with current open interest aboveUS$2 trillion.
Read more: Competition in credit futures heating up with ICE/MarketAxess/MSCI launch
ICE Clear Credit is the dominant clearinghouse for CDS products, particularly in North American markets. According to Clarus data, in 2024, USD single-name CDS clearing totalled approximately US$1.09 trillion, with nearly all of that volume — around US$1.08 trillion — cleared through ICE Clear Credit; LCH CDSClear accounted for roughly US$12 billion. Meanwhile, USD CDX index activity reached about US$11.1 trillion, almost all of which was processed by ICE Clear Credit, leaving LCH with approximately US$450 billion, according to Clarus FT figures.
In European markets, LCH’s position is larger. Total EUR iTraxx index clearing in 2024 amounted to €8.4 trillion, with ICE Clear Credit clearing €6.4 trillion and LCH CDSClear clearing €2.0 trillion. Similarly, EUR single-name CDS activity came to €617 billion, with €395 billion cleared through ICE and €222 billion through LCH
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