Major banks are hopeful the introduction of central clearing for US credit-default swap index options will spur further activity in this market after the two main central counterparties for CDS have rolled out services in recent weeks. ICE Clear Credit and LCH’s CDSClear are now both live clearing options on IHS Markit’s CDX North American investment-grade and high-yield indices, the major credit derivatives benchmarks tracking US corporate debt markets. Funnelling derivatives through clearinghouses reduces the regulatory capital banks must hold against these trades and can also lower the amount of margin investors must post against their positions. European CDS options clearing volumes at LCH have rocketed this year and banks are hopeful similar momentum can be built in the even larger US credit derivatives market.