LONDON, March 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Clearing
Europe, a wholly-owned London-based subsidiary of CME Group, today
announced that it will begin clearing more than 150 over the
counter (OTC) energy and commodity derivative products beginning
Friday, 6 May.
"The start of clearing at CME Clearing Europe is timely in light
of the need for enhanced risk management in commodity markets and
the imminent legislative change mandating the clearing of OTC
derivatives," said Andrew Lamb,
Chief Executive Officer of CME Clearing Europe. "While the
initial focus of our product expansion will be on commodity
products – energy, metals and agricultural – we aim to introduce
clearing for OTC financial derivatives, beginning with interest
rate swaps, in parallel with the deepening of the commodity
clearing. Our goal is to offer a full multi-asset OTC clearing
service, building on CME Group's clearing experience as well as its
established and growing European presence."
Fifteen international financial firms are on track to become
initial clearing members, including Bache Commodities Limited,
BHF-BANK AG, BNP Paribas Commodity Futures Limited, Citigroup
Global Markets Limited, Deutsche Bank AG, INTL Global Currencies
Limited, HSBC Bank PLC, MFGlobal UK Limited, Newedge Group (UK
Branch), Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, State Street Bank GmbH, and
UBS Limited. In addition, Citibank will join Barclays Bank PLC and
J.P. Morgan as settlement banks for CME Clearing Europe and its
clearing members.
As part of its launch, CME Clearing Europe will clear eight OTC
contracts based on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange's (DME)
Oman crude oil futures contract
that will continue to be available for clearing through CME
Clearing. CME Clearing Europe will also begin clearing an OTC
derivative contract based on rapeseed oil prices. Rapeseed
oil is used for food and non-food usage (e.g., cosmetics) as well
as in the manufacturing of biodiesel fuels. The rapeseed oil
contract is an expansion of CME Group's European product offering,
which goes beyond the existing product range listed for clearing in
the United States and will be
followed by additional regionally specific products.
CME Clearing Europe was approved as a Recognised Clearing House
(RCH) by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of the United Kingdom in December 2010. Separately, CME Clearing Europe
has applied to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to
become a registered Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO).
About CME Clearing Europe
CME Clearing Europe (www.cmeclearingeurope.com), a wholly owned
subsidiary of CME Group, has been established in London with the aim of offering services as a
multi-product clearing house focused on non-US customers. CME
Clearing Europe will provide world class clearing for a broad base
of customers, building on its European presence to extend the
geographical reach of CME Group's clearing services. CME
Clearing Europe will ensure stability and increase transparency in
the markets cleared, helping to reduce and contain systemic
risk.
About CME Group
As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace,
CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage
risk. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global
benchmark products across all major asset classes, including
futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes,
foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather
and real estate. CME Group brings buyers and sellers together
through its CME Globex® electronic trading platform and its trading
facilities in New York and
Chicago. CME Group also
operates CME Clearing, one of the world's leading central
counterparty clearing providers, which offers clearing and
settlement services for exchange-traded contracts, as well as for
over-the-counter derivatives transactions through CME ClearPort®.
These products and services ensure that businesses everywhere
can substantially mitigate counterparty credit risk in both listed
and over-the-counter derivatives markets.
The Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME Group,
Globex, E-mini and CME ClearPort 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 and New York Mercantile Exchange 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. Further
information about CME Group (Nasdaq: CME) and its products can be
found at www.cmegroup.com.
CME-G
SOURCE CME Group