Chicago,  September 29, 2008 – In light of recent market events and in response to related inquiries regarding the regulation of the credit default swap (CDS) market and the anticipated launch of a central clearing house for CDS transactions, The Clearing Corporation (TCC) today issued the following statement:

"The Clearing Corporation is currently in the process of establishing a wholly-owned, limited purpose, New York trust bank that will be regulated by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the New York State Banking Department and serve as a central clearing house with respect to CDS transactions. Accordingly, TCC is working with these regulators in order to obtain a New York State banking license. In light of recent unprecedented events in the CDS market and in anticipation of receiving required regulatory approvals, TCC and its clearing participants are moving aggressively to launch the CDS clearing platform by the end of this year. System testing, which is proceeding according to plan and validating the design and operation of the CDS clearing platform, is nearing completion.

TCC's launch of CDS clearing is a global initiative to clear both US and European CDS indices, tranches and single name liquid CDS. Both US and European participants have been involved in the development and testing of the clearing solution."