ICE WINS FSA APPROVAL FOR UK CLEARING HOUSE OPERATIONS

Posted March 26, 2008

ATLANTA – Derivatives exchange and over-the-counter markets operator IntercontinentalExchange (symbol, ICE) has gained recognition from the Financial Services Authority, the UK regulator, for its ICE Clear U.S. as a recognized overseas clearing house.

FSA approval enables UK clearers to join and for the American clearing facility to market itself in the UK. ICE Futures U.S. trades futures and options contracts on soft commodities (such as sugar, coffee, cocoa, cotton, orange juice, to name some), foreign exchange, and equity indices. FSA recognition also gives ICE Clear U.S. insolvency protection equal to those available to UK clearinghouses. ICE Clear U.S. applied for the recognition in June 2007.

To meet the requirements for recognition, an overseas clearing house must give investors and clearing members in the UK protection equal to what is given when they clear transactions with a UK clearinghouse, must share information with UK regulators, and must have adequate arrangements for sharing information between the FSA and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the US futures market regulator.