ATLANTA, July 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IntercontinentalExchange(R) (NYSE: ICE) today issued the following statement:

ICE welcomes the opportunity to participate in the industry hearings recently announced by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Since its formation in 2000, ICE has a demonstrated track record of working closely with regulators and industry participants to operate efficient, transparent markets, while achieving significant growth by virtually any measure.

    --  ICE is a global, diversified exchange operator with multiple regulated
        exchanges and clearing houses in the U.S., Europe and Canada. ICE has
        purposefully built its business around serving the needs of commercial
        market participants in energy, agriculture, credit and other key
        markets.
    --  In response to volatile commodity prices, numerous studies were
        conducted by government and independent agencies worldwide during 2008
        and into 2009. These studies largely concluded that supply and demand
        remain the fundamental drivers of commodity prices rather than excess
        speculation.
    --  In 2008, with the passage of the Farm Bill in Congress, ICE's
        over-the-counter (OTC) energy markets became subject to increased
        regulation by the CFTC for key contracts, such as the Henry Hub natural
        gas swap, under what is known as the Significant Price Discovery
        Contract (SPDC) regime.
    --  Also in 2008, the CFTC amended ICE Futures Europe's no action
        letter to require ICE Futures Europe to adopt U.S.-style reporting,
        position limits and position accountability levels for its energy
        contracts that reference the settlement price of a U.S. designated
        contract market.  Since the fall of 2008, ICE's U.S.-linked energy
        futures contracts have been subject to regulation by the CFTC under an
        amended no action letter, and today these contracts are subject to the
        same rules and regulations that apply to the U.S. energy futures
        exchange, NYMEX. For the specific provisions that are now in effect,
        please see ICE's press release dated June 17, 2008.
    --  ICE has expressed concern to the CFTC about the process in place today
        for establishing position standards in the U.S. energy markets. We look
        forward to participating in the Commission's hearings and believe
        they will provide a venue for the open, transparent dialogue necessary
        to consider market impacts of the needed changes to the existing
        position management regime.
    --  Current regulation by the CFTC mandates that ICE adopt the position and
        accountability limits that its competitor, NYMEX, is presently
        responsible for establishing. ICE is provided no access to the
        information needed to judge the suitability or size of these limits, nor
        does it have access to the methodology or determining factors that NYMEX
        used in deciding to grant over 115 hedge exemptions since 2006.
    --  Despite the substantial increase in the size of the energy markets,
        including growth in contract volume, participants and physical
        production, position limits in U.S. energy markets have remained
        unchanged for years. Therefore, it appears that hedge exemptions have
        been increasingly granted to meet the needs of market participants in
        today's large, global markets.
    --  Today we are seeing that position and accountability limits can
        inadvertently result in the transfer of cleared, transparent positions
        back into bilateral markets where neither limits nor reporting exist. A
        shift backward to opaque, bilateral markets decreases market
        transparency and increases counterparty risk, both of which run counter
        to proposals by the Treasury to bring bilateral positions into clearing
        houses.
    --  The hearing process will allow the industry to examine how needed
        modifications to the current position management regime might be better
        structured, including how changes might affect volatility, prices,
        market concentration and the prevention of settlement price
        manipulation.

    --  The CFTC specifically noted in its recent statement a desire to focus on
        the role of index funds and managers of Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs).
        Index funds and ETFs in ICE's U.S. energy markets account for an
        immaterial amount of ICE's revenue. Index funds typically execute
        their trades in the OTC broker markets rather than in ICE's markets
        -- using ICE only to clear their bilateral positions -- and thus they
        pay limited fees to the exchange. Because trading activity generated by
        index funds and ETFs generally is not part of the on-exchange price
        discovery process, they typically do not provide volume interaction with
        other participants in ICE's electronic execution markets.

As demonstrated for nearly a decade, ICE remains focused on working with regulators and market participants globally to develop solutions that maximize and enhance market efficiencies, while minimizing unintended consequences.

About IntercontinentalExchange

IntercontinentalExchange(R) (NYSE: ICE) operates leading regulated exchanges, trading platforms and clearing houses serving the global markets for agricultural, credit, currency, emissions, energy and equity index markets. ICE Futures Europe(R) trades half of the world's crude and refined oil futures. ICE Futures U.S.(R) and ICE Futures Canada(R) list agricultural, currency and Russell Index markets. ICE offers trade execution and processing for the credit derivatives markets through Creditex and clearing through ICE Trust(TM). A component of the Russell 1000(R) and S&P 500 indexes, ICE(R) serves customers in more than 50 countries and is headquartered in Atlanta, with offices in New York, London, Chicago, Winnipeg, Calgary, Houston and Singapore. www.theice.com

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, 2008, as filed with the SEC on February 11, 2009.

SOURCE IntercontinentalExchange