CME hires O'Connell as clearing head

CME Group has appointed Michael O'Connell as managing director of its clearing business development, a newly-created role, to help develop the exchange's clearing activities.

O'Connell joins CME Group from Chicago-based asset management firm Northern Trust Corporation, where he served as senior vice president for corporate and institutional services. He will report to Kim Taylor, managing director and president of CME's clearing business.

A spokesman for CME said that O'Connell's appointment, although timely, had not been exclusively motivated by the exchange's desire to provide a clearing solution for over-the-counter (OTC) credit default swaps (CDS).

CME, in a joint venture with struggling hedge-fund Citadel, is in competition with three other groups to establish a central clearing house for credit derivatives - Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange, Frankfurt-based exchange Eurex, and NYSE Euronext.

See also: CDS clearing house to miss November 30 deadline
November target for CDS central counterparty
Banks move to central clearing across asset classes