Bloomberg has launched the first interface in the US credit derivatives (CDS) market that connects both buy and sell side firms to the two central clearing counterparties (CCPs). The Bloomberg VCON solution, a widely accepted confirmation utility for cash and derivative instruments, now allows dealers and their clients to send executed trades to the two US-based providers of central clearing for OTC credit derivatives – the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Intercontinental Exchange’s ICE Trust. This connectivity leverages the Bloomberg VCON infrastructure for linking to MarkitServ for credit default swap and interest rate swap trades, bringing greater efficiency to the CDS markets.
“The VCON – CME ClearPort link allows our buy side and sell side customers to seamlessly monitor their clearing status in real time. Bloomberg is uniquely positioned to act as an integrated hub for OTC derivative processing, utilising the network of Bloomberg Professional service to connect trading customers with downstream processing and clearing services like ICE and CME,” said Ben MacDonald, Bloomberg’s global head of fixed income trading. “With the data, news and analytics on the all inclusive Bloomberg Professional service, we can play a key role in assisting our customers with operational efficiency and risk mitigation, and add value for our users.”
Ric Okun, executive vice president at Pimco, noted, “Bloomberg has played an integral role building a robust platform with integrated connectivity that will serve as bridge for Pimco, the dealer community, and the clearing platforms. We are excited about the launch of clearing connectivity and are also looking forward to expanding our CCP capabilities during the course of 2010 with additional products.”
“CME Group and Bloomberg have worked closely together to integrate affirmation and matching capabilities for clearing credit default swaps at CME,” said Laurent Paulhac, managing director, OTC products and services, CME Group. “The VCON – CME ClearPort link allows our buy side and sell side customers to seamlessly monitor their clearing status in real time.”
Dirk Pruis, president and COO of ICE Trust, commented, “As part of ICE’s role in bringing advanced risk management and clearing solutions to the CDS market, we welcome both dealer and buy-side customer participation via Bloomberg’s VCON solution.” In addition, Clive de Ruig, Global Head of ICE Processing, noted, “ICELink is happy to be connected to Bloomberg’s VCON offering to provide connectivity to ICE Trust and ICE Clear Europe for our common customers.”
The new CCP interface further builds out Bloomberg’s capabilities as a provider of trading solutions and post-trade services in the global CDS market. A full suite of CDS analytics is available on the Bloomberg Professional service at
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