CME appoints Boberski to develop OTC offering

David Boberski was today named managing director of over-the-counter research and new product development at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group.

In this newly created position Boberski will be responsible for developing CME's credit and interest rates OTC businesses. The derivatives exchange plans to launch a CDS clearing solution in the US in the first quarter of this year and is in discussions with regulators about adapting its existing European clearing platform to clear credit derivatives.

An official at the exchange declined to give a launch date, but told Risk that a delegation from CME had been present at Tuesday's meeting of market participants and European regulators and would follow the market consensus on European clearing.

However, in Europe, CME will have to compete with US rival IntercontinentalExchange, which announced on February 19 that it will clear European CDS contracts in the first half of the year, and NYSE Liffe, a London-based derivatives exchange that rolled-out a CDS clearing service on December 22, 2008.

In the US, CME was given the green light on December 23 to launch its CDS clearing service by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, but discussions are still ongoing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Before joining CME, Boberski was head of exchange-traded derivatives research at UBS, having previously worked at Bear Stearns as head of interest rate strategy. He will report to Julie Winkler, the managing director of research and product development.

See also: Eurex trading volume nudges ahead of CME
CME awaits SEC approval for CDS clearing
Portal combat
Breath of Liffe
LCH.Clearnet to expand CDS clearing into eurozone