Platforms jostle for CDS index space

Olesky: “Addressing the need for efficiency across the whole trade cycle”

New services could help solve operational risk issues in credit derivatives

MarketAxess and TradeWeb both announced long anticipated credit default swap indices trading platforms in May. Given the current volatility and dislocation in the CDS indices sector, the timing could not be better.

Both the US Federal Reserve Board and the UK’s FSA have sounded the alarm in recent weeks over the boom of credit derivatives activity. Although most fixed income

specialists have spent the past three weeks speculating how much dealers have lost on OTC traded CDS, it is operational risks that the watchdogs have most voiced their

concern on, not credit risk.