Are there any firms offering clearing thru CME Clearport for spot? http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/fx/fx-otc.html Or is this just the old Reuters deal with a new coat of paint?
With the old Reuters deal, i guess you mean FxMarketspace? As far as i understand it, Clearport is nothing like that. Its just for clearing previously agreed upon OTC deals only. For example, if you and me agree to do a trade, and we both had Clearport access, we could enter the trade on Clearport and the CME would then guarantee the deal (and we had to post margin etc.). The benefit being that we both eliminate counterparty risk (but have to pay fees to the broker and cme). But its not a matching platform like globex or a fx ecn.
It will be a platform-agnostic OTC clearing service; you will need to be a GCM or have a GCM/PB to use it. If you ask the buy side if it wants clearing, the majority says yes. Ask then if it will pay for it, the majority says no. It probably has more attraction for options and forwards (swaps) than spot.
It is an OTC clearing entity. However, it also servers as a matching engine for some markets not all thought. But the markets are thin.