The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has watered down its membership standards before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) rules designed to expand access to the service, Bloomberg reports. ICE Clear Credit, the clearing house formerly known as ICE Trust, now requires broker dealers and futures commission merchants to have $100 million in adjusted net capital and 5% of their customer funds as excess net capital.
Prior to become a clearing member, only $5 billion in minimum net worth was required. On the other hand, banks or investors, such as hedge funds that want to become a clearing member and are not organized as a futures commission merchant or broker dealer, should have a minimum of $5 billion in tangible net equity.
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