Icap will use DTCC to process credit derivatives

UK inter-dealer broker Icap will use the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) for post-trade processing of credit default product transactions from September.

Icap said the move is in response to demand for more rapid and efficient processing of inter-dealer trades in credit default products. The link between the companies will become active in September, following system testing.

Gary Smith, Icap managing director responsible for credit default products in London, said: "The industry is working to improve the post-trade process for credit default products, and we can address that requirement by developingthis link with the DTCC."

He added that the majority of the banks active in credit default products are already connected to Icap's post-trade systems. "We are leveraging this connectivity," he said.

Improving post-trade processing was highlighted as a key issue for the industry in the Counterparty Risk Management Policy Group report, issued yesterday by a group of investment bankers, led by Gerald Corrigan, a managing director at Goldman Sachs and former head of the New York Fed.