Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) is an American
multinational financial services
Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...
company formed in 2000 that operates global financial exchanges and clearing houses and provides mortgage technology, data and listing services. Listed on the
''Fortune'' 500,
S&P 500
The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 leading companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices and in ...
, and
Russell 1000
The Russell 1000 Index is a U.S. stock market index that tracks the highest-ranking 1,000 stocks in the Russell 3000 Index, which represent about 93% of the total market capitalization of that index.
, the stocks of the Russell 1000 Index had ...
, the company owns
exchanges for
financial
Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...
and
commodity
In economics, a commodity is an economic goods, good, usually a resource, that specifically has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the Market (economics), market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to w ...
markets, and operates 12 regulated exchanges and marketplaces. This includes ICE
futures exchange
A futures exchange or futures market is a central financial exchange where people can trade standardized futures contracts defined by the exchange. Futures contracts are derivatives contracts to buy or sell specific quantities of a commodity or ...
s in the United States, Canada, and Europe; the
Liffe
The London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE, pronounced 'life') was a futures exchange based in London. In 2014, following a series of takeovers, LIFFE became part of Intercontinental Exchange, and was renamed Inter ...
futures exchanges in Europe; the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
, the world's largest stock exchange in terms of total market capitalization of its listed companies; equity options exchanges; and
OTC energy, credit, and equity markets.
ICE also owns and operates six central
clearing houses: ICE Clear U.S., ICE Clear Europe, ICE Clear Singapore,
ICE Clear Credit
ICE Clear Credit LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, is a Derivatives Clearing Organisation (DCO) previously known as ICE Trust US LLC which was launched in March 2009.
ICE offers trade execution and processing for the credit derivatives m ...
, ICE Clear Netherlands, and ICE NGX. ICE has offices in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
;
New York;
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
;
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
;
Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district.
Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...
;
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
;
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...
;
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
;
Calgary
Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
;
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
;
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
;
Pleasanton;
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
;
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
;
Hyderabad
Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
;
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
; and
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
.
History
Jeffrey Sprecher was a power plant developer who spotted a need for a seamless market in natural gas used to fuel power stations.
["Atlanta-based ICE operates four regulated futures exchanges, two over-the-counter markets and five clearing houses globally. Its growth from a small energy exchange since the early 2000s has been influential in the evolution of the derivatives markets since then, paralleling the rise of commodities as a mainstream asset class, the consolidation of the exchange industry, the disappearance of the floor trader with the move to all-electronic trading platforms and the growth of swaps clearing."] In the late 1990s, Sprecher acquired Continental Power Exchange, Inc. with the objective of developing an Internet-based platform to provide a more transparent and efficient market structure for over-the-counter energy commodity trading.
In May 2000, ICE was founded by Sprecher and backed by
Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...
,
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...
,
BP,
Total,
UniCredit
UniCredit S.p.A. (formerly UniCredito Italiano S.p.A.) is an Italian multinational banking group headquartered in Milan. It is a systemically important bank (according to the list provided by the Financial Stability Board in 2022) and the world' ...
,
Shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...
,
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.
...
and
Société Générale
Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English-speaking countries as SocGen (), is a French multinational universal bank and financial services company founded in 1864. It is registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby i ...
.
The new exchange increased price transparency, efficiency,
liquidity
Liquidity is a concept in economics involving the convertibility of assets and obligations. It can include:
* Market liquidity
In business, economics or investment, market liquidity is a market's feature whereby an individual or firm can quic ...
, and had lower costs than manual trading. While the company's original focus was energy products (crude and refined
oil,
natural gas
Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
,
power, and
emissions), acquisitions subsequently expanded its activity into soft commodities (
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose
Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...
,
cotton
Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
and
coffee
Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
),
foreign exchange and
equity index
In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market perform ...
futures.
In a response to the
2008 financial crisis
The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
, Sprecher formed ICE US Trust, based in New York and now called ICE Clear Credit LLC, to serve as a limited-purpose bank, a clearing house for
credit default swaps. Sprecher worked closely with the
Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...
to serve as its over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives clearing house. "US regulators were keen on the kind of clearing house for opaque over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives as a risk management device. In the absence of a central counterparty – which would guarantee pay-outs should a trading party be unable to do so – there was a high risk of massive market disruption."
The principal backers for ICE US Trust were the same financial institutions most affected by the crisis, the top nine of the world's largest banks (Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS). Sprecher's clearing house cleared their global
credit default swaps (CDS) in exchange for sharing profits with these banks.
By September 30, 2008, the ''
Financial Post
The ''Financial Post'' is a financial news website, and business section of the ''National Post'', both publications of the Postmedia Network. It started as an English Canadian business newspaper, which published from 1907 to 1998. In 1998, the ...
'' warned that the "$54000bn credit derivatives market faced its biggest test in October 2008 as billions of dollars worth of contracts on now-defaulted derivatives would be auctioned by the
International Swaps and Derivatives Association
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA ) is a trade organization of participants in the market for derivative (finance)#Over-the-counter derivatives, over-the-counter derivatives.
It is headquartered in New York City, and has c ...
. In his article in the ''
Financial Post
The ''Financial Post'' is a financial news website, and business section of the ''National Post'', both publications of the Postmedia Network. It started as an English Canadian business newspaper, which published from 1907 to 1998. In 1998, the ...
'', Weitzman described ICE as a "US-based electronic futures exchange" which raised the stakes on October 30, 2008, in its effort to expand in the $54000 bn credit derivatives market.
By 2010, Intercontinental Exchange had cleared more than $10 trillion in
credit default swaps (CDS) through its subsidiaries, ICE Trust CDS (now ICE Clear Credit).
By 2017 Intercontinental Exchange had been named to the
Fortune Future 50 determining the top 50 companies that are best positioned to adapt and deliver growth in a complex environment. ICE was also named to the
Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...
in June 2017 as the only exchange operator included in the ranking.
On September 6, 2019, ''
Bloomberg
Bloomberg may refer to:
People
* Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer
* Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian
* Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...
'' reported that ICE was growing closer to offering
Bitcoin
Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; Currency symbol, sign: ₿) is the first Decentralized application, decentralized cryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 when an unknown entity published a white paper under ...
futures trading, as "its
Bakkt unit opens its digital-asset custody warehouse today to customers." On September 23, 2019, Bitcoin will be able to be acquired.
Mergers and acquisitions
Intercontinental Exchange has had a policy to grow through the acquisition of other exchanges, a number of these have been successful while others have failed due to concerns by regulators or others that the new company would have created a monopoly situation. The major acquisition and attempted acquisitions have included:
2001: International Petroleum Exchange (IPE)
In June 2001, ICE expanded its business into futures trading by acquiring the London-based
International Petroleum Exchange
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
(IPE), now ICE Futures Europe, which operated Europe's leading open-outcry energy futures exchange. Since 2003, ICE has partnered with the
Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) to host its electronic marketplaces. In April 2005, the entire ICE portfolio of energy futures became fully electronic and ICE closed
International Petroleum Exchange
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
's high profile and historic trading floor.
2007: New York Board of Trade (NYBOT)
ICE became a publicly traded company on November 16, 2005, and was added to the Russell 1000 Index on June 30, 2006. The company expanded rapidly in 2007, acquiring the
New York Board of Trade
ICE Futures U.S.—known as the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) until September, 2007— is a physical commodity futures exchange located in New York City. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).
History
It origi ...
(NYBOT), and ChemConnect (a chemical commodity market).
2007: Chicago Board of Trade - (unsuccessful bid)
In March 2007 ICE made an unsuccessful $9.9 billion bid for the
Chicago Board of Trade
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), is an American futures exchange, futures and options exchange that was founded in 1848. On July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form CME Group. CBOT and three other excha ...
, which was instead acquired by the
CME Group
CME Group Inc. is an American financial services company based in Chicago that operates financial derivatives exchanges including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, New York Mercantile Exchange, and the Commodity Exchange. ...
.
2007: Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (WCE)
IntercontinentalExchange Inc., the "upstart Atlanta-based energy bourse" purchased the privately held 120-year-old
Winnipeg Commodity Exchange ICE Futures Canada (IFCA)—known as the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (WCE) until 2008—was a derivatives market based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and was Canada's only commodity futures exchange.
Prior to 2008, WCE was the subsidiary of WCE Holdings I ...
, known for its canola futures contract, for $40 million.
The Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (WCE) was renamed ICE Futures Canada as of January 1, 2008.
In 2004, the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange had "closed its open-outcry trading floor" becoming "the first North American agricultural futures exchange to trade exclusively on an electronic platform" by trading via the "Chicago Board of Trade's electronic platform, and
sing
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...
clearing services from the Kansas City Board of Trade.
IntercontinentalExchange converted Winnipeg Commodity Exchange contracts to the IntercontinentalExchange platform.
IntercontinentalExchange maintained an office and "small core staff" in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Manitoba Securities Commission oversee its operations.
2008: Creditex
In June 2008, ICE announced that it had entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Creditex Group Inc. (Creditex). The transaction consideration totaled $625 million comprising approximately $565 million in ICE common stock and $60 million in cash, as well as a working capital adjustment to be finalized at closing. Upon the closing of the transaction, Creditex Group became a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICE, operating under the Creditex name.
2008: TSX Group's Natural Gas Exchange Partnership
In January 2008, ICE partnered with Canada's
TSX Group's Natural Gas Exchange, expanding their offering to clearing and settlement services for physical OTC natural gas contracts.
2010: Climate Exchange
In April 2010, ICE acquired Climate Exchange PLC for 395 million pounds ($622 million) and
European Climate Exchange (ECX) as part of its purchase. Exchange-traded emissions products were first offered by the European Climate Exchange (ECX), which was established in 2005, by listing products on the ICE Futures Europe's trading platform. ICE Futures Europe is the leading market for
carbon dioxide () emissions. ICE's ECX products comply with the requirements of the
European Union Emission Trading Scheme
The European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is a carbon emission trading scheme (or ''cap and trade'' scheme) that began in 2005 and is intended to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. Cap and trade schemes limit emissions of spec ...
.
2013: NYSE Euronext
In February 2011, in the wake of an announced merger of
NYSE Euronext
NYSE Euronext, Inc. was a Transatlantic relations, transatlantic Multinational corporation, multinational financial services corporation that operated multiple Stock exchange, securities exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext ...
with , speculation developed that ICE and Nasdaq could mount a counter-bid of their own for NYSE Euronext. ICE was thought to be looking to acquire the American exchange's derivatives business, Nasdaq its cash equities business. As of the time of the speculation, "NYSE Euronext's market value was $9.75 billion. Nasdaq was valued at $5.78 billion, while ICE was valued at $9.45 billion." Late in the month, Nasdaq was reported to be considering asking either ICE or the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) (often called "the Chicago Merc", or "the Merc") is an American derivatives marketplace based in Chicago and located at 20 S. Wacker Drive. The CME was founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board ...
(CME) to join in what would probably be an $11–12 billion counterbid for NYSE. On April 1, ICE and Nasdaq made an $11.3 billion offer which was rejected April 10 by NYSE. Another week later, ICE and Nasdaq sweetened their offer, including a $.17 increase per share to $42.67 and a $350 million breakup fee if the deal were to encounter regulatory trouble. The two said the offer was a $2 billion (21%) premium over the Deutsche offer and that they had fully committed financing of $3.8 billion from lenders to finance the deal.
The
Justice Department, also in April, "initiated an antitrust review of the proposal, which would have brought nearly all U.S. stock listings under a merged Nasdaq-NYSE." In May, saying it "became clear that we would not be successful in securing regulatory approval", the Nasdaq and ICE withdrew their bid.
The
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
then blocked the Deutsche merger on February 1, 2012, citing the fact that the merged company would have a near monopoly.
In December 2012, ICE announced it would buy NYSE Euronext (this time without the involvement of Nasdaq) for $8.2 billion, pending regulatory approval.
Jeffrey Sprecher would retain his position as chairman and CEO.
The boards of directors of both ICE and NYSE Euronext approved the acquisition, which took place in 2013.
In 2014, ICE spun off Euronext, keeping NYSE and
LIFFE
The London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE, pronounced 'life') was a futures exchange based in London. In 2014, following a series of takeovers, LIFFE became part of Intercontinental Exchange, and was renamed Inter ...
, renaming it ICE Futures Europe.
2014: SuperDerivatives Inc.
In September 2014, ICE announced that it had agreed to acquire
SuperDerivatives,
a provider of risk management analytics, financial market data and valuation services. SuperDerivatives was purchased for $350 million on October 7, 2014.
2015: Interactive Data Corporation (IDC)
In October 2015, ICE announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire
Interactive Data Corporation (IDC), a provider of financial market data, analytics, from
Silver Lake, involved in technology investing, and Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm focused on growth investing. The acquisition was valued at approximately $5.2 billion, including $3.65 billion in cash and $1.55 billion in ICE common stock, and builds on ICE's global market data growth strategy by expanding the markets served, adding technology platforms and increasing new data and valuation services. Completion of the transaction was subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. The transaction completed on December 14, 2015.
2015: Trayport and subsequent divestment
In December 2015, ICE acquired Trayport for $650 million from
GFI Group
GFI Group Inc. (GFI) is a financial services company that through its subsidiaries provides brokerage services, trade execution, market data, trading platforms and other software products. Clients are institutional customers in markets for a rang ...
. Trayport provides a trading technology platform that serves brokers, exchanges, clearing houses and trading participants, primarily in the European utility markets. Approximately 70%-80% of European utility trades flow through its platform.
Following the acquisition, the
Competition and Markets Authority
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the principal competition regulator in the United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for promoting competitive markets and tackling unfair beh ...
(CMA) called in the merger for review. In October 2016 it announced its decision to require ICE to sell Trayport, having ruled that the merger could lead to a substantial lessening of competition. ICE challenged the decision in the
Competition Appeal Tribunal
The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) of the United Kingdom was created by Section 12 and Schedule 2 to the Enterprise Act 2002, Enterprise Act 2002 which came into force on 1 April 2003. The Competition Service is an executive non-department ...
(CAT), but the CAT upheld the CMA's decision. As a result, ICE sold Trayport to TMX Group in October 2017, in exchange for certain TMX Group assets and cash of £350 million. The CMA's ruling against ICE was the first time CMA had required that a company sell an asset that it had already bought.
2016: Standard & Poor's Securities Evaluations (SPSE)
In March 2016, ICE agreed to acquire
Standard & Poor's
S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is co ...
Securities Evaluations, Inc. (SPSE) and Credit Market Analysis (CMA), two assets under the
S&P Global
S&P Global Inc. (prior to 2016, McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013, The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financia ...
Market Intelligence business unit from
McGraw Hill Financial
S&P Global Inc. (prior to 2016, McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013, The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financia ...
. Most terms of the agreement were not disclosed. In October 2016 it had completed its all-cash acquisition.
2017: TMX Atrium
In February 2017, ICE announced it had entered an agreement to acquire TMX Atrium, an extranet and wireless services business from TMX Group. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, and the transaction is expected to close within 90 days, subject to regulatory approvals. The financial impact of the transaction will be immaterial and was included in ICE's financial guidance for 2017.
2017: BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research Index Platform (BofAML)
In February 2017, ICE announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Global Research division's index platform from
Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The BofAML indices are the second most used fixed income indices by assets under management (AUM) globally, and upon closing, the AUM benchmarked against the combined fixed income index business of ICE will be nearly $1 trillion. Upon closing, the indices will be re-branded as the ICE BofAML indices. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed, and the transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2017. The financial impact of the transaction is expected to be immaterial in 2017. In October 2017 ICE announced it has completed its acquisition. Furthermore, in August 2019, it announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire a family of fixed income volatility indices, including the prominent Merrill Lynch Option Volatility Estimate (“MOVE”) family of indices.
2017: Euroclear
In October 2017, ICE announced it had acquired a 4.7% stake in
Euroclear Group for EUR 275 million. ICE anticipates having one representative join the Board of Euroclear. Euroclear is a leading provider of post-trade services, including settlement, central securities depositories and related services for cross-border transactions across asset classes. It is understood ICE increased its stake to 10% in early 2018.
2017: Virtu BondPoint
In October 2017, ICE announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire Virtu BondPoint from
Virtu Financial
Virtu Financial, Inc. is an American high-frequency trading company. The company went public on the Nasdaq in 2015.
Organization
Based in New York City, Virtu was founded by Vincent Viola, a former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange ...
for $400 million in cash. The acquisition was reportedly completed on January 2, 2018, as announced by ICE. BondPoint is an integrated, automated platform offering additional fixed income execution services and one of the broadest sets of fixed income instruments.
2018: Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX)
In April 2018, ICE announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire the
Chicago Stock Exchange
NYSE Chicago, formerly known as the Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX), is a stock exchange in Chicago, Illinois, US. The exchange is a national securities exchange and self-regulatory organization, which operates under the oversight of the U.S. Secu ...
(CHX), a full-service stock exchange, including trading, data and corporate listings services. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018, subject to regulatory approvals. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and the financial impact will not be material to ICE or impact capital return plans.
2018: TMC Bonds LLC
In May 2018, ICE announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire TMC Bonds LLC for $685 million in cash. Established in 2000, TMC Bonds is a fixed income marketplace, supporting anonymous trading in various asset classes including Municipals, Corporates, Treasuries, Agencies and Certificates of Deposit. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2018, subject to customary regulatory and anti-trust approvals, and is not expected to materially impact 2018 financial results or capital returns.
2018: Merscorp Holding, Inc
In October 2018, ICE announced that it had acquired the remaining equity of Merscorp Holding, Inc., owner of
Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems
Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) is an American privately held corporation. MERS is a separate and distinct corporation that serves as a nominee on mortgages after the turn of the century and is owned by holding company MERSC ...
, Inc. (MERS). Merscorp owns and operates the MERS System, a national electronic registry that tracks the changes in servicing rights and beneficial ownership interests in U.S.-based mortgage loans. ICE had owned a majority equity interest in MERS since 2016. Earlier this month, ICE successfully moved the MERS System infrastructure to the ICE Mahwah data center, an integral requirement for completing the final acquisition of the business. The price and terms of the transaction were not disclosed and will not be material to ICE's earnings or have an impact on capital return plans.
2019: Simplifile, LC
In May 2019, ICE announced that it had agreed to acquire Simplifile, LC. Simplifile operates a network connecting agents and jurisdictions involved with residential mortgage records.
ICE will pay $335 million to acquire Simplifile, which is based in
Provo, Utah
Provo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Utah County, Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front, and lies between the cities of Orem, Utah, Orem to the north and Springville, Utah, Springville to the south ...
and has no debt. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019. Upon closing, Simplifile, which has approximately 200 employees, will continue to be based in Provo and operate under the Simplifile name.
2020: Ellie Mae
In August 2020, ICE announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire
Ellie Mae, a cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry. The transaction with Ellie Mae, a portfolio company of
Thoma Bravo
Thoma Bravo, LP is an American private equity and growth capital firm based in Chicago, Illinois. It is known for being particularly active in acquiring enterprise software companies and has over $130billion in assets under management .
It ...
, a leading private equity investment firm, valued Ellie Mae at approximately $11 billion. The deal, following ICE's taking a majority stake in MERS in 2016, purchasing the remainder in 2018, and acquiring Simplifile in 2019, made ICE and its growing ICE Mortgage Technology a leading provider of end-to-end electronic workflow products for the U.S. residential mortgage industry. The transaction completed successfully in September 2020 after regulatory approval.
2021: risQ
In December 2021, ICE acquired risQ, a
geospatial
Geographic data and information is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as data and information having an implicit or explicit association with a location relative to Earth (a geographic location or geographic position). It is also call ...
and climate data modeling start-up company, after announcing partnerships with the company to develop
climate risk and
ESG analytics models for
municipal bond
A municipal bond, commonly known as a muni, is a bond issued by state or local governments, or entities they create such as authorities and special districts. In the United States, interest income received by holders of municipal bonds is often ...
markets in January 2020 and
mortgage-backed securities
A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is a type of asset-backed security (an "Financial instrument, instrument") which is secured by a mortgage loan, mortgage or collection of mortgages. The mortgages are aggregated and sold to a group of individuals ( ...
markets in March 2021.
2022: Black Knight
In May 2022, ICE announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire
Black Knight, Inc., a software, data and analytics company that serves the housing finance continuum. The cash and stock transaction values Black Knight at $85 per share, or a market value of $13.1 billion. In April 2023, the
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...
petitioned a federal court to issue a
preliminary injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable reme ...
to halt the acquisition.
In August 2023, ICE announced that they had entered into an Agreement Containing Consent Orders (the “ACCO”) with the Bureau of Competition of the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) regarding their pending acquisition of Black Knight. The ACCO contains an agreed form of consent order that will be submitted to the FTC for acceptance and approval. Based on a previously announced Timing Agreement entered into among ICE, Black Knight and the FTC on August 6, 2023, ICE was permitted to complete its acquisition of Black Knight following 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the tenth calendar day after the entry into the ACCO.
In September 2023, the parties closed the acquisition and completed the previously announced divestitures of Black Knight's Empower and Optimal Blue businesses to subsidiaries of
Constellation Software Inc.
2025: American Financial Exchange (AFX)
On January 8, 2025, ICE announced that it acquired the American Financial Exchange (AFX), an electronic exchange for direct lending and borrowing for American banks and financial institutions and operator of the credit-sensitive American Interbank Offered Rate (
AMERIBOR), from 7RIDGE. The acquisition was not expected to have a material impact on ICE’s 2025 financial results or on ICE’s deleveraging or capital return plans.
Operations
ICE provides exchange trading and clearing services in a number of different markets. Its main products include:
* Exchange traded futures and options
** Agriculture
** Financials
** Crude Oil and Refined
** Electricity
** Natural Gas/Liquids
** UK Natural Gas
** Other
* Over-the-counter instruments (ICE OTC)
** Crude Oil and Refined
** Natural Gas
** Electricity
The company is split into the following subsidiaries:
* Markets
**
ICE Futures U.S.
** ICE Futures Europe - one of the world's largest energy
futures and options exchanges
** ICE Futures Singapore
** ICE Endex
** ICE OTC Energy
** ICE Swap Trade & Creditex
** ICE Bonds
* Clearing
** ICE Clear U.S.
** ICE Clear Europe
** ICE NGX
** ICE Clear Singapore
** ICE Clear Netherlands
** ICE Clear Credit
ICE Data Services
In June 2016 Intercontinental Exchange introduced the expanded ICE Data Services, which combined exchange data, valuations, analytics, and other software used by the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
(NYSE),
SuperDerivatives and
Interactive Data (IDC).
[ICE Press Release (June 27, 2016)]
Exchange Launches Expanded ICE Data Services"
/ref>
ICE originally formed its ICE Data subsidiary in 2003, recognizing the rising demand for exchange data as markets became increasingly automated. ICE continues to invest in its data services to address evolving customer needs driven by regulatory reform, market fragmentation, passive investing and indexation, along with increased demand for data capacity and security, and independent valuations. Their customers include global financial institutions, asset managers, commercial hedging firms, risk managers, corporate issuers and individual investors.
ICE Data Services has offices in California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, New York, Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, Bedford MA, London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
, Singapore, Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
, Hyderabad
Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
and Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
.
See also
* List of futures exchanges
This is a list of notable futures exchanges. Those stock exchanges that also offer trading in futures contracts besides trading in securities are listed both here and the list of stock exchanges.
Major derivatives exchanges
Below ...
* Securities market participants (United States)
Securities market participants in the United States include corporations and governments issuing securities, persons and corporations buying and selling a security, the broker-dealers and exchanges which facilitate such trading, banks which safe k ...
* CCP Global
CCP Global (CCPG) is a global body that brings together central counterparty clearing houses (CCPs) from the world's major jurisdictions.
Overview
CCP Global was originally formed in 2001 as an informal group named CCP12 by twelve founding CCPs ...
References
; Bundled references
External links
*
ICEOKX
*
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Intercontinental Exchange
Financial services companies established in 2000
Financial services companies of the United States
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Energy companies of the United States
Companies based in Atlanta
Commodity exchanges in the United States
Energy exchanges
Economy of London
Petroleum economics
Futures exchanges
American companies established in 2000
2005 initial public offerings