Intercontinental Exchange Becomes First Venue to Launch SONIA Options

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of mortgage technology, data and listings services, today announces the launch of Options and Mid-Curve Options based on Three Month SONIA Index Futures.

Since launching one month SONIA futures in December 2017 and three month SONIA futures in June 2018, cumulative volume in the contracts is equivalent to more than £13 trillion notional. Open interest stands at a record 112,723 contracts in three month SONIA futures, with open interest out to June 2026.

“ICE is where the market comes to hedge its exposure to Sterling-related interest rate risk and SONIA Options provide another tool to help the market transition from LIBOR^® and manage nonlinear risk,” said Steve Hamilton, Global Head of Financial Derivatives at ICE. “Throughout 2020, open interest in SONIA futures has grown three fold as increasing parts of the market utilize SONIA to express their views on, and manage, UK interest rate risk.”

ICE SONIA futures trade alongside Three Month Sterling (“Short Sterling”) futures and options. Open interest in Short Sterling stands at more than 17.6m contracts, and Sterling futures recently hit a record of 4.87m.

Other alternative reference rate futures available on ICE include one month and three month SOFR futures, €STR futures and SARON futures.

About Intercontinental Exchange

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) is a Fortune 500 company and provider of marketplace infrastructure, data services and technology solutions to a broad range of customers including financial institutions, corporations and government entities. We operate regulated marketplaces, including the New York Stock Exchange, for the listing, trading and clearing of a broad array of derivatives contracts and financial securities across major asset classes. Our comprehensive data services offering supports the trading, investment, risk management and connectivity needs of customers around the world and across asset classes. As a leading technology provider for the U.S. residential mortgage industry, ICE Mortgage Technology provides the technology and infrastructure to transform and digitize U.S. residential mortgages, from application and loan origination through to final settlement.

Trademarks of ICE and/or its affiliates include Intercontinental Exchange, ICE, ICE block design, NYSE and New York Stock Exchange. Information regarding additional trademarks and intellectual property rights of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and/or its affiliates is located at http://www.intercontinentalexchange.com/terms-of-use. Key Information Documents for certain products covered by the EU Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products Regulation can be accessed on the relevant exchange website under the heading “Key Information Documents (KIDS).” LIBOR^® and ICE LIBOR^® are trademarks of IBA and/or its affiliates. All rights in these trademarks are reserved and none of these rights may be used without a written licence from IBA and/or its affiliates, as applicable.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 -- Statements in this press release regarding ICE's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, as filed with the SEC on February 6, 2020.

About SONIA

The "SONIA" mark is used under licence from the Bank of England (the benchmark administrator of SONIA), and the use of such mark does not imply or express any approval or endorsement by the Bank of England. "Bank of England" and "SONIA" are registered trademarks of the Bank of England.

Source: Intercontinental Exchange

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