Fed meets to advance CDS clearinghouse

[Joanne98]

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York confirmed that it's holding a meeting on Friday -- its second this week -- on setting up a clearinghouse for the hitherto unregulated market for credit derivatives.

In a Friday morning announcement, the Fed said it would be meeting with four potential CDS clearinghouse operators: Eurex, NYSE Euronext, CME Group/Citadel and IntercontinentalExchange/the Clearing Corp. Also at the meeting will be representatives from the major dealers who sell CDS contracts, buyers of the contracts, and representatives from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the European Central Bank.

Given the central role the market is playing in the epic credit freeze, the issue of a clearinghouse for CDS has gained increasing importance of late. Right now, it's virtually impossible without a central body to regulate the market to gain insight into the unregulated, over-the-counter market for CDS contracts, and players hope that setting up such a central body as quickly as possible could lessen some of the crippling uncertainty that is plaguing the credit market. - Vipal Monga

http://www.thedeal.com/dealscape/2008/10/fed_meets_to_a...

[dkf]

1. Its actually rather amazing how many things the Feds and our Government are throwing together

to fix our problems.

And so fast too.

I can't imagine how crazy these people's lives have been.

[rateyes]

2. I say that they should declare all CDS null and void. nt