Press Releases

SunGard’s GMI Supports Centralized Clearing Process on New International Derivatives Clearinghouse

March 19, 2009 — Chicago, IL

Financial institutions using SunGard’s GMI clearing and accounting system for exchange traded derivatives, futures and options are now able to process over-the-counter (OTC) U.S. dollar denominated interest rate swap futures business through the International Derivatives Clearinghouse (IDCH), a CFTC-regulated clearinghouse.  
 
As counterparty credit risk has become a key focus in the current financial crisis, the ability for financial institutions to process and clear OTC derivatives through central clearing entities, such as IDCH, will be crucial to helping these institutions increase transparency and manage their exposures.  IDCH provides a platform for firms to execute trades in interest rate swap futures as well as to convert OTC transactions to cleared interest rate swap futures. SunGard’s GMI provides customers with processing and clearing capabilities for OTC interest rate swap futures through IDCH’s centrally cleared platform.
 
Christopher Edmonds, chief executive officer of International Derivatives Clearing Group, said, "The OTC interest rate swaps market is the largest derivative asset class in the world. The use of a centrally cleared platform for OTC interest rate swap futures contracts helps address problems of opacity and counterparty credit risk. SunGard’s GMI provides firms the ability to process and clear transactions with IDCH in an efficient and cost-effective manner."
 
Gerry Murphy, president of SunGard’s brokerage and clearance business, said, "SunGard’s GMI helps firms simplify the process for booking interest rate swap futures business, providing back-office processing, and helping them manage relationships. GMI is providing processing with a clearinghouse that can potentially help reduce counterparty risk and provide the added transparency and stability that is needed in the OTC swaps industry."
 
About International Derivatives Clearing Group
The International Derivatives Clearing Group (IDCG) is an independently operated subsidiary of NASDAQ OMX Group. IDCG operates International Derivatives Clearinghouse (IDCH), a CFTC regulated clearinghouse that is a central counterparty to interest rate swap futures contracts and other fixed income derivatives. IDCH, in conjunction with Razor Risk Technologies, utilizes NASDAQ OMX SECUR clearing technology to provide an efficient and transparent forum to clear and settle futures products. For more information about IDCG and IDCH, visit www.IDCG.com.

About SunGard’s GMI
A clearing and accounting system for global exchange-traded derivatives, futures and options, GMI supports the activities of clearing firms, securities firms, brokerage houses, and other participants in derivatives trading, such as multi-national agriculture and energy companies. GMI links to exchanges worldwide for access to pricing updates, margins and risk arrays. Customers use GMI to help eliminate manual processes and consolidate data in a single integrated accounting system, control costs and increase competitiveness.

About SunGard
SunGard is one of the world’s leading software and IT services companies. SunGard serves more than 25,000 customers in more than 70 countries, including the world’s 25 largest financial services companies.

SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software.

With annual revenue exceeding $5 billion, SunGard is ranked 472 on the Fortune 500 and is the largest privately held business software and services company on the Forbes list of private businesses. Based on information compiled by Datamonitor*, SunGard is the third largest provider of business applications software after Oracle and SAP. Continuity, Insurance & Risk has recognized SunGard as service provider of the year an unprecedented five times. For more information, please visit SunGard at www.sungard.com.
 
* January 2009 Technology Vendors Financial Database Tracker http://www.datamonitor.com
 
Trademark Information: SunGard, the SunGard logo and GMI are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.