US energy market the IntercontinentalExchange has moved to capitalise on its lead in the race among the world’s largest exchanges to become the venue for credit default swap clearing by outlining a new service for asset managers and hedge funds.

Ice, which has cleared $1.6 trillion (€1.1 trillion) of North American CDS contracts since it opened its clearing service Ice Trust US in March this year, said it has developed a CDS clearing system to be offered directly to buyside firms that it plans to launch in October, subject to US regulatory approval.