Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Reuters Join Forces to Offer Futures Trading
The deal significantly expands CME's distribution and enhances Reuters customers' ability to seamlessly trade FX spot, forwards and futures. Reuters FX Dealing 3000 in 3,500 institutions located in 123 countries will be able to access CME's electronically traded eFX futures markets. For the first time CME's eFX futures markets will be directly accessible by a significant cross section of the interbank FX spot trading community.
The two companies will be showcasing their joint offering at the European ACI Congress, opening this week in London from 27-29 May. Additionally, Terry Duffy, CME Chairman, and Mark Robson, Global Head of Treasury and Fixed Income, Reuters, will host a joint reception at ACI for the London FX trading community to inaugurate the agreement.
"The distribution of CME's eFX markets through Reuters' unparalleled trading network combines the resources of two of the world's most dynamic FX markets into one seamless trading environment, creating additional growth potential for both," said Duffy. "This is yet another example of how CME is working to forge innovative business alliances that deliver value to our customers and shareholders."
Under the agreement, CME's eFX markets, traded on its GLOBEX® platform, will be easily accessed via Reuters Dealing 3000 desktop with straight through processing of trades in Reuters Ticket Output Feed (TOF) standard. Quotes on CME's eFX products will appear in spot (or cash) equivalent terms to further ease usage for cash market participants by facilitating price comparisons between the two markets, potentially bringing greater pricing efficiencies to both. Because of the financial guarantees provided by CME's Clearing House, banks will also be able to trade with non-bank participants in a credit- enhanced environment. In order to facilitate the order execution and risk management, Reuters and CME have selected FFastFill and Future Dynamics independently to provide the related services.
"FX trading is experiencing strong growth and attracting new interest from both banks and the wider financial marketplace," said Robson. "Reuters aims to capitalize on these trends and benefit its customers through this alliance with CME. Reuters Dealing 3000 users will gain simplified access to FX execution and straight through processing, whilst increased inter-bank trading onto CME will enhance price discovery and the liquidity available to the whole marketplace."
Chicago Mercantile Exchange provides the world's largest regulated marketplace for foreign exchange trading. Reuters, an international leader in financial information and analytics, which serves 427,000 financial professionals worldwide, provides the world's leading FX platform for spot and forwards trading.
"CME's FX markets are in the midst of one of their most robust growth periods ever, driven largely by eFX volume which was up 152 percent in the first quarter 2004 versus year ago levels. While CME's total FX volume has recently averaged as much as $22 billion per day in notional value, we think we can capture a larger share of the over $500 billion in average daily FX spot and forward outright market activity through our agreement with Reuters," said CME CEO Craig Donohue. "In conjunction with our recently announced eFX incentive pricing program, CME is clearly committed to the continued global expansion of its FX franchise."
The service will go live in the fourth quarter and will be initially available in London, with roll out to additional markets in Europe, Asia and North America following. Participants would only require minor technical adjustments to their existing Reuters workstations for connectivity.
CME offers 30 different foreign exchange products, including U.S. dollar- denominated and cross rate products. CME's FX contracts were the world's first financial futures products when they were introduced in 1972. CME and Reuters previously collaborated in the late 1980s and early 1990s to pioneer electronic futures trading through the original GLOBEX system.
Note to Editors:
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. ( http://www.cme.com ) is the largest futures exchange in the United States. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and GLOBEX® electronic trading platform. CME offers futures and options on futures primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moved about $1.5 billion per day in settlement payments in the first quarter of 2004 and managed $38.1 billion in collateral as of March 31, 2004. CME is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CME), which is part of the Russell 1000® Index.
Reuters ( http://www.about.reuters.com ), the global information company, provides indispensable information tailored for professionals in the financial services, media and corporate markets. Our information is trusted and drives decision making across the globe based on our reputation for speed, accuracy and independence. We have 15,500 staff in 92 countries, including some 2,400 editorial staff in 197 bureaus serving approximately 130 countries, making Reuters the world's largest international multimedia news agency. In 2003, the Reuters Group had revenues of 3.2 billion British Pounds Sterling.
Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward- looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. More detailed information about factors that may affect our performance may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, which can be obtained at its Web site at http://www.sec.gov . CME undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Reuters and the sphere logo are the trademarks of the Reuters group of companies.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME, the globe logo and GLOBEX are registered trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Further information about CME and its products is available on CME Web site at http://www.cme.com .
SOURCE Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. 05/24/2004
CONTACT: Anita S. Liskey, +1-312-466-4613, or John Holden,
+1-312-930-3446, news@cme.com , both of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., or
Yvonne Diaz of Reuters, +44-207-542-2615, yvonnediaz@reuters.com
Web site: http://www.about.reuters.com
http://www.cme.com
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Chicago Mercantile Exchange's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.