The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) says it will give regulators around the world unfettered access to credit default swap (CDS) data - including counterparty information - held at its warehouse.
The DTCC Trade Information Warehouse was set up as a not-for-profit cooperative providing a registry of the details of virtually all outstanding credit default swaps traded globally.
It currently holds data on roughly 2.3 million contracts from trading counterparties located in 52 countries, covering credit obligations of entities located in more than 90 countries around the world.
The DTCC says it is a "bedrock" principle to provide all interested regulators information they need and it is currently developing protocols that will allow direct access to data without the need to go through Warehouse staff.
However, the firm has until now refused to provide regulators with specific counterparty information without the consent of the counterparty itself, citing confidentiality concerns.
This policy recently came under fire, with European regulators concerned about their inability to obtain data relating to the Greek debt crisis and even considering a call to set up a rival CDS data collector on the continent.
In an apparent U-turn, the DTCC now says: "In light of recent developments, we believe that responding to these requests while continuing to observe the practice of not providing counterparty names absent consent may no longer be appropriate."