After announcing in March that it had?received approval from the?United Kingdom’s?Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for its London-based derivatives exchange,?CME Europe Ltd, it is now live as of?April 27.
At the time,?CME Group Executive Chairman and President Terry Duffy said in a press release, “Our European customers are increasingly looking for ways to manage risk and access liquidity in a local jurisdiction. CME Europe now allows us to better serve our customers in the region as we expand our business with relevant products. In addition, the combined move to central clearing and?London?serving as the center of global foreign exchange trading will mean our new exchange is well positioned to serve all of?Europe.”
Upon its launch, the exchange started trading 30 foreign-exchange and commodity futures. This includes the following:
FX:?Major Currencies (CLS-Settled),?Non-CLS Physically-Settled Currencies,?CLS-Settled Currencies,?Non-CLS Cash-Settled Currencies?
Commodities:?Biofuels
Additional products will be launched over time while clearing services for CME Europe will be provided by?CME Clearing Europe.?
William Knottenbelt, senior managing director, Europe, the Middle East and Africa forCME Group, said of its initial products, “We have a lot of people who aren?t trading our FX products in the US joining the European exchange. This is what we were trying to do in the first place.
He added, “We will be converting more of our biofuel swaps to futures in the coming months and are looking at opportunities across our product groups ? whether that be metals, agricultural products or interest rates.”
In addition, around 40 firms have applied for membership.
The exchange is also expected to raise competition in the marketplace that includes fellow exchanges, Deutsche Boerse and Nasdaq OMX who are also seeking to expand into this arena.