CME Group Statement on Sentinel Management Group, Inc. and CME Financial Safeguards System
CHICAGO, August 14, 2007 CME Group today provided the following comment on Sentinel Management Group, Inc. and its determination to cease acceptance of new investment funds or redemptions. CME Group also confirmed that its clearing member firms have continued to meet all of their obligations to CME Clearing and remain in good standing. Sentinel has notified the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that it will not accept additional funds for investment and that it will not make redemptions at this time.
Sentinel is not a clearing member of CME Group or any other exchange. Sentinel provides investment advisory and investment services to institutional and corporate clients, including a limited number of CME clearing member firms. Total investments under management by Sentinel are approximately $1.5 billion. None of these funds are on deposit with CME Clearing to support performance bond or collateral requirements. Sentinel is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pursuant to the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, and is also registered with the CFTC and the National Futures Association (NFA) as a non-clearing futures commission merchant (FCM).
As of today, CME Group holds approximately $53.4 billion in performance bond collateral, including approximately $6.5 billion of excess collateral. CME Group provides a marketplace where futures and options on futures contracts are traded. CME Clearing clears, settles and guarantees all matched transactions in CME Group contracts. The financial integrity of CME Clearing is the foremost consideration of the CME Group's Management, Board of Directors and CME Clearing Risk Committee. CME Group is vitally aware of its role in international financial markets and believes that its financial safeguard system, designed for the benefit and protection of both clearing members and their customers, is second to none. CME Group's financial safeguard systems and auditing systems have proved absolutely effective for over 125 years to protect customers and other members of its clearing house against any loss.
CME Clearing's risk management and financial surveillance techniques are comprehensive and specifically designed to:
- Prevent the accumulation of losses through CME Clearing's twice daily mark-to-market and settlement variation payment process. All payments to and collections from clearing members are made in "same-day" funds.
- Ensure that sufficient resources are available to cover future obligations through the payment of both minimum initial and maintenance performance bonds and with high quality collateral specified by CME Clearing.
- Result in the prompt detection of financial and operational weaknesses affecting any CME Group clearing member firm.
- Allow swift and appropriate action to be taken to rectify and financial problems and protect the clearing system.
CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is the world's largest and most diverse exchange. Formed by the 2007 merger of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), CME Group serves the risk management needs of customers around the globe. As an international marketplace, CME Group brings buyers and sellers together on the CME Globex electronic trading platform and on its trading floors. CME Group offers the widest range of benchmark products available across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and alternative investment products such as weather and real estate. CME Group is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ under the symbol "CME."
The Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME Group, Globex and E-mini, are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Further information about CME Group and its products can be found at www.cmegroup.com.
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