Swapswire, the much-delayed electronic dealing system for interest rate derivatives processing, has gone live with fourteen banks and brokers in Europe and the US.
A number of other banks and brokers have signed up and are making preparations to join in the coming weeks and months says Swapswire CEO Chip Carver.
"The launch has been a great success following a concerted effort by the key players in the industry, with $53bn notional value having been booked already," he says. "These banks are already reaping the rewards of reduced risk of errors and lower processing costs."
SwapsWire lets traders reconcile and legally affirm trade details with each other and, where applicable, with brokers within minutes of execution. ICAP is the first inter-dealer borker operating on the system. Conventional manual processing of trades can routinely take days before documentation is completed between counterparties, with all the associated potential for error and higher costs.
Swapswire, established by a consortium of 23 banks, was initially scheduled for live launch in the first quarter of 2001 but has suffered successive regulatory and technical hitches.
Michael Davie, managing director at consortium bank JPMorgan, says: "We’re thrilled that the system is now operational, after a great deal of work by the dealing community to bring us to this point. We are now booking 100% of our eligible trade volume through SwapsWire and already seeing the benefits."
In addition to expanding participation in Europe and the USA, banks in Asia will start using the platform from next year, says Carver.