ICE Reports Increase in March Daily Futures Volume; OTC Energy Average Daily Commissions up 20% to a Record $1.95 Million in First Quarter

ATLANTA, April 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of regulated global futures exchanges, clearing houses and over-the-counter (OTC) markets, today reported futures volume and average daily volume (ADV) for March and the first quarter of 2012. ICE's futures ADV grew 1% for the month of March 2012 compared to March 2011. ICE achieved record average daily commissions (ADC) of $1.95 million in its OTC energy business during the quarter, up 20% from the prior first quarter.

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Global Futures Exchanges

ICE operates three regulated futures exchanges: ICE Futures Europe, ICE Futures U.S. and ICE Futures Canada.

• ICE's futures ADV in March 2012 increased 1% from March 2011 to 1,515,327 contracts. ADV at ICE Futures Europe was flat at 1,055,330 contracts. ADV at ICE Futures U.S. and ICE Futures Canada increased 3% and 60%, respectively, from the prior March.
• First quarter 2012 futures ADV declined 3% from the prior first quarter to 1,555,519 contracts and total quarterly futures volume was 96,466,522 contracts.

Energy and Credit OTC Transaction Revenues

• First quarter 2012 ADC for ICE's OTC energy markets were a record $1.95 million, an increase of 20% from the first quarter of 2011.
• Revenues from ICE's credit default swap (CDS) trade execution, processing and clearing operations were $40 million, up 2% from the first quarter of 2011, including $16 million in CDS clearing revenues.

Operating and Financial Guidance Update

• ICE expects acquisition expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2012 in the range of $3 million to $4 million.  M&A is a component of ICE's growth strategy, thus acquisition expenses will not be excluded on a non-GAAP basis, unless the expenses relate to transaction completion or financing.

2012 Annual Meeting of Stockholders

• ICE's 2012 Annual Meeting of Stockholders will be held on Friday, May 18, 2012, at 8:30 a.m. ET at the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead located at 3434 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30326.  Attendees must present proof of ownership as of the close of business on March 20, 2012, which is the record date for the annual meeting of stockholders.

March 2012 Review

• ICE Futures Europe records:
  • ICE Brent options set a monthly volume record of 558,272 contracts.  Monthly volume and ADV records were achieved in ICE Heating Oil and NY Harbor Unleaded (RBOB) Gasoline futures contracts.
  • The exchange set an open interest record of 5,135,368 contracts on March 30.  During the month, open interest records were established in ICE Brent futures and options, ICE Rotterdam Coal futures and options, ICE Dutch Natural Gas, Heating Oil, RBOB and EUAA futures, and UK Natural Gas options contracts.
• ICE Futures U.S. records:
  • ICE U.S. Dollar Index (USDX) futures had record daily volume of 82,689 contracts on March 14.
• ICE announced plans to launch OTC FX clearing services in the second quarter, subject to regulatory approvals.
• ICE introduced "Plus One", an innovative execution-to-clearing workflow for OTC swaps that supports credit risk management.
• ICE's Creditex subsidiary, in conjunction with Markit, held a Credit Event Auction to settle CDS trades on Hellenic Republic sovereign debt on March 19.
• ICE announced the introduction of Interval Price Limits, a market circuit breaker functionality, to markets on ICE Futures U.S. and ICE Futures Europe.
• On March 19, ICE launched 28 new cleared OTC contracts for natural gas liquids, North American natural gas and power, crude and refined petroleum products.
• Through March 30, ICE's CDS clearing houses have cleared $29.2 trillion in gross notional value on a cumulative basis across 851,784 transactions. ICE currently lists 337 CDS instruments for clearing.
  • ICE Clear Credit has cleared $17.0 trillion of gross notional value since inception, including $1.4 trillion in single-name CDS, resulting in open interest of $902 billion. ICE Clear Credit offers clearing for 42 indexes and 132 corporate single-name instruments and four Latin American sovereign instruments.
  • ICE Clear Europe has cleared EUR 9.0 trillion ($12.2 trillion) of gross notional value since inception, including EUR 1.2 trillion ($1.7 trillion) in single-name CDS, resulting in EUR 569 billion ($759 billion) of open interest. ICE Clear Europe offers clearing for 38 indexes and 121 single-names.
• Trading days in March 2012:
  • ICE Futures Europe: 22
  • ICE Futures U.S.: 22
  • ICE Futures Canada: 22

ICE Futures Contracts & Markets Monthly ADV

(1) "Other futures & options contracts" include ICE UK Natural Gas futures; ICE Coal futures; ICE Dutch TTF and German Natural Gas futures; ICE UK Electricity futures; ICE Heating Oil futures; ICE Unleaded Gasoline Blendstock (RBOB) futures; and Coal and Natural Gas options.
(2) "Index futures & options" includes Russell 2000® mini futures and options and futures for the Russell 1000® mini, the Continuous Commodity Index, the Euro Index and the NYSE Composite.
(3) "Other agricultural commodity contracts" include futures and/or options for Cocoa, Coffee "C", Cotton No. 2, Orange Juice, Sugar No. 14 and Sugar No. 16.
(4) "Currency futures and options" include futures and options for the U.S. Dollar Index and foreign exchange.

ICE Futures First Quarter ADV

ICE Futures Monthly and Quarterly Volume

ICE Futures Open Interest

Rolling Three-Month Average Rate per Contract (RPC)

RPC is calculated by dividing transaction revenues by contract volume, and may vary based on pricing, customer and product mix.

ICE OTC Transaction & Clearing Revenues

Historical futures volume and OTC commission data can be found at:
http://ir.theice.com/supplemental.cfm

About IntercontinentalExchange

IntercontinentalExchange® (NYSE: ICE) is a leading operator of regulated futures exchanges and over-the-counter markets for agricultural, credit, currency, emissions, energy and equity index contracts. ICE Futures Europe® hosts trade in half of the world's crude and refined oil futures. ICE Futures U.S.® and ICE Futures Canada® list agricultural, currencies and Russell Index markets. ICE® is also a leading operator of central clearing services for the futures and over-the-counter markets, with five regulated clearing houses across North America and Europe. ICE serves customers in more than 70 countries. www.theice.com  

The following are trademarks of IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. and/or its affiliated companies: IntercontinentalExchange, IntercontinentalExchange & Design, ICE, ICE and block design, ICE Futures Canada, ICE Futures Europe, ICE Futures U.S., ICE Clear Europe, ICE Clear Credit, U.S. Dollar Index, European Climate Exchange (ECX) and Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE). All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For more information regarding registered trademarks owned by IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. and/or its affiliated companies, see https://www.theice.com/terms.jhtml

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 - Statements in this press release regarding IntercontinentalExchange'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, 2011, as filed with the SEC on February 8, 2012.

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SOURCE IntercontinentalExchange