CME Group Announces the Launch of New Yuan FX Futures Contracts

Innovative New Product Design Developed to Suit Global Customers' Needs

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Jul 10, 2011, 09:00 ET

SINGAPORE, July 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace and the largest regulated market for foreign exchange, today announced the launch of new foreign exchange (FX) futures contracts based on the Chinese Yuan (CNY), or Renminbi. In order to meet growing global customer demand for products denominated in the Chinese currency, these innovative new futures contracts will be quoted in interbank (European) terms, reflecting the number of CNY per US dollar. These futures products are aligned with the OTC market convention for non-deliverable forwards while providing the benefits of counterparty risk mitigation from exchange-traded derivatives. These new currency products, which will be listed on and subject to the rules and regulations of CME, will launch Monday, 22 August for September 2011 settlement and will be allocated to the IMM (International Monetary Market) Division.

"Given the Yuan's movement toward greater convertibility and the growing offshore trade of the currency in Hong Kong, CME Group has developed these innovative new (CNY) futures contracts to further enable our customers to more effectively manage their currency risk with the counterparty risk mitigation benefits of an exchange traded product," said Roger Rutherford, Managing Director FX Products, CME Group. "The launch of our new Yuan contracts demonstrates CME Group's continued commitment to our global customer base by creating new products that are relevant to both mature and emerging markets. We see the success of these new contracts following a similar pattern to that of our other emerging markets products such as Russian Ruble and Brazilian Real, which have seen year to date growth of 350% and 450% respectively. These significant increases in both volumes and open interest reflect increasing demand for credit risk mitigation in emerging markets products, and we believe that our new Yuan futures products provide these same benefits for customers managing their Yuan currency risk."

In order to serve both the institutional as well as the retail market, CME Group will list both a full-sized USD/RMB (CNY) contract as well as an E-micro version. These new contracts join CME Group's existing RMB/USD futures contract, launched in June 2006, and are all traded on CME Globex as well as available for Blocks and EFPs via CME ClearPort.

CME Group offers an innovative global product suite of 54 futures and 31 options contracts. CME FX volume averaged 930,000 contracts per day in 2010, up 49 percent versus 2009, reflecting average daily notional value of $120 billion. E-micro Forex average daily volume in the first quarter of 2011 was more than 6,900 contracts, up nearly 109 percent compared to the same period last year. Real-time price quotes will be available free of charge on CME Group's E-quivalents web page.

To view a video on CME's new USD/RMB (CNY) FX futures with Roger Rutherford, visit: http://at.pscdn.net/008/00102/videoplatform/110623rutherford.html. For additional information about CME Group's new USD/RMB (CNY) FX futures, visit www.cmegroup.com/rmb.

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.

CME Group is a trademark of CME Group Inc. The Globe Logo, CME, Globex and Chicago Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and the Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are registered 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.

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SOURCE CME Group