Dubai Mercantile Exchange to List Products with CME Group
CHICAGO and DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Nov 10, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- CME Group, the world's largest and most diverse exchange, and the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange based in the Middle East, announced today that DME's contracts will exclusively trade electronically on the CME Globex(R) platform in the first quarter of 2009, subject to final DME board approval of the definitive agreement. The CME Globex platform offers virtually around the clock access to the broadest array of derivatives products in every major asset class in more than 85 countries and foreign territories worldwide.
The transition of the DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract (OQ) to CME Globex enables the world's three crude oil benchmark products to trade on the same platform. The DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract is increasingly recognized as the first successful exchange traded contract for price transparency in the East of Suez markets, joining West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude oil futures contracts as the world's benchmarks for crude oil. As growing demand from Asia continues to drive fundamentals in the oil industry, there is increasing need for a transparent mechanism to determine the price of crude imported into the region.
Listing the DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract and the DME Oman Crude Oil Financial Contract (ZG) on CME Globex will further increase opportunities for improved risk management by Asian refiners through sophisticated hedging strategies, as well as creating arbitrage opportunities and other advanced trading strategies for the trading community around the world.
"The addition of DME's contracts onto CME Globex extends the wide range of energy products available to our global customer base and further strengthens our links with the Middle East, following the confirmation of CME Group as a 'Recognized Body' by the Dubai Financial Services Authority," said CME Group Executive Chairman Terry Duffy. "This agreement is another example of our commitment to expand our global offerings and services to our customers worldwide."
Ahmad Sharaf, Chairman, DME, said: "This partnership demonstrates a significant step forward in the DME's development as the leading commodities exchange in the Middle East and is in line with the vision of UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum in establishing Dubai as a leading international financial centre. We intend to work closely with our partners the CME Group as they expand their international footprint, and we are confident that this cooperation will help to build global visibility for the DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract through the around the clock availability of the CME Globex trading platform."
"By integrating DME's energy contracts with our existing benchmark crude oil products, CME Group again takes a market leadership role by providing our diverse set of customers with the products necessary to manage their risk and exposure to the fundamental issues driving energy prices," said Craig Donohue, CME Group Chief Executive Officer. "The growth potential of the Oman crude oil futures contract, particularly in Asia, makes it an attractive addition for CME Group customers wishing to augment their existing trading strategies. In turn, energy market participants in the Middle East and Asia gain critical access to a worldwide pool of liquidity through CME Globex."
Thomas Leaver, CEO, DME, said: "The transition to CME Globex marks an important milestone in this second phase of growth for the DME. In the first year of trading we saw over 400 million barrels traded through the DME, and recently released an equity stake to some of the world's leading financial and physical oil companies, marking their confidence in the DME's long term success and ability to weather current market turmoil. The visibility and reach offered by CME Globex will give further impetus to the growing liquidity of the DME contracts, and we are confident that this is a strong first step in a long and productive partnership with the CME Group."
CME Group completed its acquisition of NYMEX Holdings on August 22, 2008, creating a market with a pro forma 2007 average trading volume of approximately 14.2 million contracts per day in the first two quarters of 2008. Customers from more than 85 countries trade CME Group products, primarily electronically. CME Group, through its acquisition of NYMEX Holdings, holds a 25 percent equity stake in DME, alongside core shareholders Tatweer, a Dubai Holding company, and the Oman Investment Fund. A strategic investor group including leading global financial institutions and energy trading firms such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Vitol and Shell, holds a 20 per cent equity stake in the DME. The arrangement remains subject to negotiation of definitive documents and obtaining all necessary regulatory approvals.
CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is the world's largest and most diverse derivatives exchange. Building on the heritage of CME, CBOT and NYMEX, 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 trading floors in Chicago and New York. By acting as the buyer to every seller and the seller to every buyer, CME Clearing virtually eliminates counterparty credit risk. CME Clearing also offers $7 billion in financial safeguards to help mitigate systemic risk, providing the security and confidence market participants need to operate, invest and grow. 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, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, and alternative investment products such as weather and real estate. CME Group is listed on 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. CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange, and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
For the latest trading volumes on the DME, please visit: www.dubaimerc.com
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About the Dubai Mercantile Exchange
The Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited (DME), a joint venture between the New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. (NYMEX), Tatweer, a member of Dubai Holding, and the Oman Investment Fund (OIF), is the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, providing a financially secure, well-regulated and transparent trading environment.
The Exchange has developed and trades the DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract, addressing the growing market need for price discovery of Middle East Sour Crude Oil while simultaneously bridging the time-zone gap between Europe and Asia by providing for the trading of energy futures, options and other products.
The DME is a fully electronic exchange. However, in a unique concept, it also brings together a community of traders who operate from trading hubs and individual trading stations on the Exchange's floor, which is located within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the region's leading financial services centre. The DME is authorised and regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), a world class, independent regulator, and all trades executed on the Exchange are cleared through, and guaranteed by, NYMEX's AA+ rated clearinghouse which is licensed as a Recognised Body by the DFSA.
Statements in this press 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. Among the factors that might affect our performance are: our ability to realize the benefits and control the costs of our merger with NYMEX Holdings, Inc. and our ability to successfully integrate the businesses of CME Group and NYMEX Holdings, including the fact that such integration may be more difficult, time consuming or costly than expected and revenues following the merger may be lower than expected and expected cost savings from the merger may not be fully realized within the expected time frames or at all; increasing competition by foreign and domestic entities, including increased competition from new entrants into our markets and consolidation of existing entities; our ability to keep pace with rapid technological developments, including our ability to complete the development and implementation of the enhanced functionality required by our customers; our ability to continue introducing competitive new products and services on a timely, cost-effective basis, including through our electronic trading capabilities, and our ability to maintain the competitiveness of our existing products and services; our ability to adjust our fixed costs and expenses if our revenues decline; our ability to generate future revenues from processing services; our ability to maintain existing customers and attract new ones; our ability to expand and offer our products in foreign jurisdictions; changes in domestic and foreign regulations; changes in government policy, including policies relating to common or directed clearing, changes as a result of a combination of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or changes relating to the recently enacted Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008; the costs associated with protecting our intellectual property rights and our ability to operate our business without violating the intellectual property rights of others; our ability to generate revenue from our market data that may be reduced or eliminated by decreased demand or the growth of electronic trading; changes in our rate per contract due to shifts in the mix of the products traded, the trading venue and the mix of customers (whether the customer receives member or non-member fees or participates in one of our various incentive programs) and the impact of our tiered pricing structure; the ability of our financial safeguards package to adequately protect us from the credit risks of clearing members; the ability of our compliance and risk management methods to effectively monitor and manage our risks; changes in price levels and volatility in the derivatives markets and in underlying fixed income, equity, foreign exchange and commodities markets; economic, political, geopolitical and market conditions, including the recent volatility of the capital and credit markets; natural disasters and other catastrophes, our ability to accommodate increases in trading volume and order transaction traffic without failure or degradation of performance of our systems; our ability to execute our growth strategy and maintain our growth effectively; our ability to manage the risks and control the costs associated with our acquisition, investment and alliance strategy; our ability to continue to generate funds and/or manage our indebtedness to allow us to continue to invest in our business; industry and customer consolidation; decreases in trading and clearing activity; the imposition of a transaction tax on futures and options on futures transactions; the seasonality of the futures business; changes in regulation or our industry as a result of a combination with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and changes in the regulation of our industry with respect to speculative trading in commodity interests and derivatives contracts. 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 periodic reports filed on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and our Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on October 29, 2008, which are available in the Investor Relations section of the CME Group Web site. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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SOURCE CME Group
http://www.cme.com
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