CME Group applies to get into new swaps exchange business

Sept 18 (Reuters) - CME Group Inc (NasdaqGS: CME - news) , the biggest U.S. futures market operator, has applied with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to register as a swap execution facility (SEF), an exchange-like platform created as a result of the global crackdown on the derivatives that helped bring the 2007-2008 credit crisis.

Regulators in major financial markets around the world are rewriting the rules on swaps, the over-the-counter securities that derive their value from interest rates, credit, foreign exchange, equities and commodities - estimated to be a $630 trillion market.

Wall Street banks trade swaps in privately negotiated deals, largely over the phone, through a handful of brokers such as Britain's ICAP Plc (LSE: IAP.L - news) , but regulators want to shed more light on the lucrative market.

New rules, part of the 2010 U.S. Dodd-Frank law intended to overhaul Wall Street after the financial crisis, will put an end to privately negotiated swaps trading.

With the move to SEFs, swaps will be traded on exchange-like platforms. Deals will take place through the same type of order books that exchanges use, or by requesting quotes from at least two market parties. The number will go up to three parties after a phase-in period.

Chicago-based CME said its SEF would be available via its CME Direct platform, which provides access to the exchange operator's futures and over-the-counter markets in energy and metals.

CME Group (Kuala Lumpur: 7018.KL - news) , which owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade and the New York Mercantile Exchange, plans to initially launch the SEF with commodities and is weighing customer demand for other asset classes.

The SEF will allow customers to execute swaps alongside listed futures, CME said.

The swaps market is dominated by large banks such as Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C - news) , Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Virtually all trading volume between them takes place through the brokers.

Other firms looking to become SEFs include ICAP, Bloomberg LP; TradeWeb, which is majority-owned by Thomson Reuters ; and MarketAxess.