ICAP, Marex Spectron and Tullett Prebon Launch Tankard Trade-backed Natural Gas Indices for UK + EU

SOUTHAMPTON, U.K. - June 18, 2013 - PRLog -- The Tankard indices will initially cover the four leading traded natural gas hubs in Europe –
the UK National Balancing Point (NBP), Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), German
NetConnect Germany (NCG) and GASPOOL. Each Tankard index is calculated exclusively
using transaction prices for contracts for physical delivery at their respective hub, executed
via one of the three brokers that comprise Tankard. ICAP, Marex Spectron, and Tullett
Prebon provide comprehensive coverage of the OTC natural gas market. In 2012, the three
brokers arranged an estimated €450 billion notional value of physically settled natural gas
forwards. Tankard plans to extend these indices to further hubs in due course.
Richard Frape, Director of Market Services, Energy at Marex Spectron, said, “Providing
robust and transparent indices based on actual trades will go a long way towards increasing
the level of transparency in the European natural gas market. This collaboration between the
three largest brokers in the OTC market for European natural gas is likely to provide a sound
foundation for related physical activity.”
The trades that make up the Tankard indices are physically-settled natural gas forwards,
executed between utilities, natural gas producers, hedge funds, banks and trading houses.
Index Publication
Tankard publishes Day-Ahead, Weekend-Ahead and Month-Ahead indices for NBP, TTF,
NCG and GASPOOL and a 15:25 to 15:30 index (UK time) for NBP ("Tankard 15:30"). The
Tankard indices comprise the volume-weighted average of voice and electronic trades
arranged by ICAP, Marex Spectron and Tullett Prebon.
All Tankard indices follow UK local time and the UK business day calendar. Day-Ahead and
Month-Ahead indices are published daily at 18:00. The Weekend-Ahead index is published at
18:00 on the last business day of the week. The Tankard 15:30 index is published daily at
16:00. Tankard index data and the methodology are available at www.tankardindex.com.
Tankard notes the developing standards for financial benchmarks, particularly the current
ESMA/EBA Consultation Paper “Principles for Benchmarks-Setting Processes in the EU” and
the IOSCO “Consultation Report on Financial Benchmarks”. The three firms that form the
Tankard collaboration are committed to ensuring that the indices are produced in line with
best practice as developed by the regulators and will implement any rules or guidelines as
and when they emerge.
Contact Details:
Candice Adam Argentus PR +44 (0) 20 7397 2915
Serra Balls ICAP – Public Relations +44 (0) 20 7050 7124
Richard Lindsay Marex Spectron – Marketing and Communications +44 (0)20 7650 4091
Alexandra Wick Tullett Prebon – Marketing and Communications +44 (0) 20 7200 7579
Charlotte Kirkham Tullett Prebon - Public Relations +44 (0) 20 7920 2331
Notes to Editors:
About Tankard
Tankard is a collaboration between ICAP, Marex Spectron and Tullett Prebon, the major
interdealer brokers in UK and European natural gas. For further information about Tankard, or
for licensing enquiries, please contact enquiries@tankardindex.com.ICAP Energy Limited
ICAP Energy, a subsidiary of ICAP plc, is an innovative leader in the energy and shipping
industries, providing full-service and over-the-counter broking and advisory capabilities to a
broad spectrum of businesses throughout the world.
The group has approximately 350 staff located in London, North America, Singapore, Sydney,
Geneva, Bergen, Amsterdam, Madrid, Copenhagen and Sao Paulo. ICAP Energy offers realtime price discovery and execution services in crude oil and oil products, biofuels, agriculture
and softs, base and precious metals, iron ore, electricity, natural gas, coal, emissions, freight,
weather derivatives and physical products. ICAP Energy was named "Broker of the Year" in
2012 by Energy Risk magazine in a poll of over 1,500 market participants.
For more information please visit www.icapenergy.com.
Marex Spectron Group
Marex Spectron is the one of the world's largest commodities brokers, with market-leading
positions in metals, energy, agricultural products, freight and environmental markets. The
Group also offers clients financial futures and foreign exchange broking. Clients include
commodity producers and consumers, banks, brokers, CTAs, hedge funds and professional
traders. Marex Spectron Group is a member of the London Metal Exchange, the CME Group
exchanges, ICE US, NYSE Liffe, ICE Futures and Eurex, and offers access to all major
exchanges in the US and Asia.
The Group is headquartered in London with offices across the USA, Asia and Europe. Its
subsidiaries are regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the UK, the National Futures
Association in the US and the Securities and the Futures Commission in Hong Kong.
Marex Spectron Group is majority owned by JRJ Group and its partners, Trilantic Capital
Partners and BXR Group.
For further information, please visit www.marexspectron.com.
Tullett Prebon Group Limited
With a heritage stretching back over 140 years and a presence in 21 countries, Tullett Prebon
is one of the world's largest interdealer brokers. It acts as an intermediary in the wholesale
financial markets across the following product groups: Energy & Commodities, Interest Rate
Derivatives, Fixed Income Securities and their derivatives, Treasury Products and Equities.
In 2012, it was voted the overall number one broker in power for the fourth consecutive year
by Risk and Energy Risk. The Energy & Commodities division provides a single
comprehensive source for price information and liquidity, alongside insight and information on
virtually every sector of the market.
For further information please visit http://www.tullettprebon.com.