Intercontinental Exchange Announces June 1 Launch Of ICE Three Month SONIA Futures

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, today announced that subject to relevant regulatory approvals, ICE Futures Europe plans to launch a new three month, cash-settled futures contract based on the Sterling Overnight Index Average (SONIA) rate on June 1, 2018.

The launch follows the introduction of the ICE One Month SONIA futures contract on December 1, 2017 and complements ICE’s liquid and diverse range of interest rate futures and options contracts, which span multiple currencies (EUR, GBP, CHF and USD) and tenors (from overnight to 30 years).

Stuart Williams, President, ICE Futures Europe said: “The introduction of Three Month SONIA futures complements our strategy to provide market participants with a broad range of tools for managing interest rate risk in a capital efficient manner. As the home of UK and European interest rates trading, we continue to contribute to the development of alternative benchmarks based on overnight rates or short-term secured funding rates that offer benefits to participants in the global interest rate markets.”

As global monetary policies continue to evolve and interest rate markets build on their momentum, ICE’s interest rate franchise has seen a strong start to 2018. Year to date, average daily volume (ADV) and open interest (OI) across ICE’s Interest Rates complex grew 8% and 6% y/y. In 2017, rates ADV and OI grew 28% and 38% y/y, respectively.