CME Group appoints OTC head

Laurent Paulhac has joined the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as a managing director of over-the-counter products and services.

In this new role, he will have responsibility for the development, execution and management of the exchange’s global OTC business strategy on CME ClearPort – a clearing service for OTC products. He will be based in New York and report to Rick Redding, managing director of products and services.

CME ClearPort currently offers clearing for energy, metals and agricultural commodities traded in OTC markets, but the exchange is planning to expand its offering to credit, equities, foreign exchange and interest rate markets.

Paulhac joined CME from credit derivatives data provider CMA, which was acquired by CME in 2008, where he was chief executive. Alongside his new responsibilities, he will remain at the helm of CMA until a successor is named.

Paulhac also founded an electronic execution business, Prescient Markets, in 1999, which was acquired by SunGard in 2002. At SunGard, he served as president of the money markets division until 2004. Before joining CMA, he was a management consultant for venture capital groups and technology companies looking to expand their businesses in financial services.