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IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) provided its testimony to the House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Committee on Agriculture. The testimony will be delivered today, July 12.
"We support an orderly Commodity Exchange Act reauthorization process where the goals and consequences are evaluated in a thoughtful and studied manner together with market participants," said ICE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher. "We agree with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that the CFMA provides the CFTC the scope and ability to oversee exempt commercial markets like ICE. The large trader reports that ICE now provides on a daily basis are just one example of the CFTC's use of the flexibility afforded in the existing regulatory framework. At the same time, we support the review of the CFTC's authority to ensure that it is adequate, and we remain committed to working with the CFTC and the Committee toward that end."
"The current ECM structure offers significant risk management tools to the hedging community, which in turn have increased liquidity and transparency for commercial market participants. We do not believe that allowing retail customers to enter the commercial derivatives markets through regulatory changes provides any additional market protections or benefits. The growth of ICE and NYMEX has been a positive development for the market, and has rightly emphasized the differences in our unique market structures and distinct product sets. However, focusing only on two venues within the larger competitive field can lead to the unintended consequence of encouraging business to move away from transparent markets or to move offshore."
The full written testimony submitted by IntercontinentalExchange today is available at: http://www.theice.com/publicdocs/press/PR_ICE_HOUSE_TESTIMONY_071207.pdf
About IntercontinentalExchange
IntercontinentalExchange(R) (NYSE: ICE) operates the leading global,
electronic marketplace for trading both futures and OTC energy contracts and
the leading soft commodity exchange. ICE's markets offer access to a range of
contracts based on crude oil and refined products, natural gas, power and
emissions, as well as agricultural commodities including cocoa, coffee,
cotton, ethanol, orange juice, wood pulp and sugar, in addition to currency
and index futures and options. ICE(R) conducts its energy futures markets
through its U.K. regulated London-based subsidiary, ICE Futures, Europe's
leading energy exchange. ICE Futures offers liquid markets in the world's
leading oil benchmarks, Brent Crude futures and West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
Crude futures, trading nearly half of the world's global crude futures by
volume of commodity traded. ICE conducts its agricultural commodity futures
and options markets through its U.S. regulated subsidiary, the New York Board
of Trade(R). For more than a century, the NYBOT(R) has provided global
markets for food, fiber and financial products. ICE was added to the Russell
1000(R) Index on June 30, 2006. Headquartered in Atlanta, ICE also has
offices in Calgary, Chicago, Houston, London, New York and Singapore. For more
information, please visit www.theice.com and www.nybot.com.
