A pioneer in the multitrillion-dollar credit-derivatives market is seeking approval for what could be the first exchange catering to privately traded derivatives, or "swaps," instruments that currently trade off-exchange.

Sunil Hirani, who in 1999 co-founded Creditex Group, an electronic execution platform for credit-default swaps, has asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to approve the new venture, trueEX, as an exchange or "designated contract market" for swaps, according to documents made public on the CFTC website on 31 January.