(EnergyAsia, July 13, Monday) --- Chicago, US-based CME ClearPort marked its seventh anniversary last month serving as the clearance house for over-the-counter trades in 700 energy, metal and agricultural commodities around the world.

CME ClearPort, which helps customers around the world mitigate their counterparty credit risks, now handles 700,000 transactions per day, and expects the volume to increase as it adds more contracts in more asset classes.

In today’s high-risk environment, there is growing demand for OTC clearing services.

Offering financial integrity and security for traders, CME ClearPort now has 10,000 registered users around the world. OTC market participants want to know they can count on the creditworthiness of their business partners.

CME ClearPort was launched as a clearing service for OTC natural gas products on May 31, 2002 in response to market demand after the Enron crisis. As market participants increasingly came to appreciate the security, value and savings that central clearing brought to their businesses, the number of contracts and the types available grew each year.

Last year, 141 new contracts were offered for clearing through CME ClearPort. This year, more than 100 additional contracts have been added to the contract slate, and others will be announced as the year continues.

Javier Loya, chairman and CEO of OTC Global Holdings, said:

“We have used CME ClearPort in our business since its inception in 2002. We have become one of the largest users of CME ClearPort because of the value it adds to our customers’ business.

“CME ClearPort has adapted to market needs and the service allows our counterparties to transact with all other counterparties registered to CME ClearPort without setting up private credit agreements or ISDA agreements.

“The capital efficiencies and depth of market provided through CME ClearPort Clearing has helped our business grow.”
Chris Mudry, chief risk officer at Mercuria Global Energy Solutions, said:

“CME ClearPort offers a flexible, scalable post-trade clearing solution. We appreciate the counterparty risk mitigation the service provides.”
Building on the heritage of CME, CBOT and NYMEX, CME Group serves the risk management needs of customers around the globe.