The new world of meta finance and its yet to be tested efficiencies

Author's Biography

Christopher Edmonds is the Chief Development Officer at Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE). Edmonds oversees all of ICE's clearing house operations and the global risk management team. Additionally, he coordinates the company's marketing and public relations endeavours. He previously served as Global Head of Clearing & Risk and Senior Vice President of Financial Markets, where he oversaw the development of initiatives within ICE's exchanged listed and OTC financial markets. Before being named Global Head of Clearing & Risk, Edmonds was Senior Vice President of Financial Markets with responsibility for all client-facing activities for the fixed income, credit and commodities (including energy, softs and metals) asset classes. Prior to that, Edmonds was President of ICE Clear Credit (formerly known as ICE Trust). ICE Clear Credit was one of the first designated Systemically Important Financial Market Utilities under the Dodd–Frank Act. Under his leadership, the central counterparty transitioned from a limited purpose trust company regulated by the New York State Banking Commission and the New York Federal Reserve to a designated clearing organisation and a securities clearing organisation jointly regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). During Edmonds' tenure as President of ICE Clear Credit, more than US$40tn in credit default swaps were cleared reducing the systemic risk associated with these instruments by more than 90 per cent. Additionally, revenues grew from US$20m per year to more than US$75m. Prior to joining ICE Trust in December 2009, Edmonds was the Chief Executive Officer of the International Derivatives Exchange Group (IDCG). He began with the company as the Chief Operating Officer in July 2008 and was named Chief Executive Officer in September 2008. Under his leadership, IDCG completed its application with the CFTC and launched its designated clearing organisation for currency futures and options in December 2008. IDCG also completed a successful capital raise and executed a line of credit facility in excess of US$120mn during this same time-frame. Previously, Edmonds was the Chief Development Officer for ICAP Energy where he led the company's external growth efforts within the energy and commodities space. He also served as the Chief Executive Officer of ICAP Futures. In this role Edmonds was actively involved with regulatory developments in over-the-counter futures and options, including successful efforts to increase the number of OTC cleared products available in energy and commodities. Edmonds formed an industry coalition to push for cleared OTC products and presented the idea to a number of US-based exchanges in the late 1990s before reaching an agreement with NYMEX that eventually resulted in the launch of ClearPort Clearing in 2002.

Ashwini Panse is the Chief Risk Officer for the North American clearing houses at ICE. Panse is also the Head of Risk Oversight for ICE Clear Netherlands and ICE Clear Singapore. Panse oversees the risk management framework at the clearing houses and provides expertise, support and challenge to the management of all financial and non-financial risks. Panse joined ICE in 2010, and prior to becoming Chief Risk Officer, Panse served in other leadership roles in risk, compliance and internal audit across ICE's global business units. Panse has served as the Chief Compliance Officer for ICE Trade Vault US, and in her internal audit role, Panse administered the Global Sarbanes Oxley 404 compliance and testing programme and internal audits for ICE's US subsidiaries. Panse is Chair of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) CCP Working Group. She is a board member of the FIA Operations America Division, which promotes industry cooperation and exchange of ideas on all topics impacting the US Marketplace. She is also a board member and Treasurer at McKenna Farms Therapy Services Inc., a non-profit organisation that provides therapeutic programmes and resources for children with special needs and their families. Panse began her career at Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLC, holds an MBA in Finance from Xavier University, Williams College of Business and is a certified public accountant and a chartered accountant.