Eris Exchange – CHICAGO and LONDON – Eris Exchange, LLC (Eris) and Cassini Systems Limited (Cassini) announced that Eris will offer analytical tools powered by Cassini that show end-users how to generate dramatic initial margin savings by replacing OTC Swaps with Eris Swap Futures, while retaining the risk exposure of the portfolio. Eris is a U.S.-based futures exchange offering cash-settled swap futures as the leading alternative to traditional OTC swaps. Cassini offers a pre-trade platform for OTC trading that combines risk, limits, fees, margin and collateral in a set of decision support analytics. This set of tools allows for what-if scenarios yielding the lowest margin, as well as other portfolio cost analytics.

The Eris-sponsored access to the Cassini offering will allow clients to identify portfolios of Eris Swap Futures that can lower initial margins in excess of 50%. End users submit a sample portfolio of OTC IRS, or a delta ladder, and the analytics powered by Cassini generate a report detailing the replacement portfolio of margin efficient Eris positions. This service is being offered free of charge. Market participants can find more information by going to www.erisfutures.com/optimize.

“Cassini’s ability to analyze and replicate a client’s OTC swap portfolio using Eris Swap Futures is powerful. The resulting analysis illustrates the margin savings achievable when replacing OTC swaps with Eris Swap Futures, and therefore reduces the need to convert assets to cash to meet margin calls. This reduction in margin is immediately accretive to portfolio income,” said Steven Griffiths, Managing Director of Absolute Derivatives, a London-based derivatives market structure consulting firm

“End users and clearing firms are increasingly turning to capital-efficient Eris Swap Futures in response to the escalating costs of trading OTC swaps. Partnering with Cassini Systems allows Eris to offer swap market participants a powerful tool to quantify margin benefits of migrating positions from OTC swaps to Eris Swap Futures,” said Neal Brady, Chief Executive Officer of Eris.

“At Cassini, we have focused on creating systems for pre-trade decision making that change the way users trade LIBOR risk and use listed derivatives in their portfolios,” said Marc Knaap, Head of Sales for Cassini Systems. “Our focus on innovation to improve trading decisions in the post Dodd-Frank and Basel III environment is underscored by our new relationship with an industry leader, Eris Exchange.”

Eris and Cassini will host a webinar on September 28th at 10 AM ET; sign up for the webinar to learn more.