CDS clearing house tops regulators' to-do list in drive to tackle counterparty risk

The New York Fed is keen to establish a central clearing house for CDS, with CCorp poised to launch such a service. But will the recently merged Creditex-ICE throw its hat into the ring?

The agenda for the June 9 meeting between the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the so-called Fed 18 banks brought something a little different from the usual points of discussion. Item two on the agenda was "a central counterparty for credit default swaps that, with a robust risk management regime, can help reduce systemic risk".

The New York Fed has been leaning on the leading credit derivatives dealers to clean up the industry since their first meeting in September 2005, but until now their