CME Group Launches Instant Messaging Platform for Energy Trading Community

--CME Direct Messenger to be integrated into CME Direct electronic trading platform

--Acquires Pivot, Inc., a leader in instant messaging software for traders, to power CME Direct Messenger

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Jul 31, 2012, 01:00 ET

CHICAGO, NEW YORK and LONDON, July 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced the launch of CME Direct Messenger, a sophisticated instant messaging platform for traders in the energy markets. CME Direct Messenger will be powered by market-leading instant messaging software developed by Pivot, Inc., which was recently acquired by CME Group.

Pivot has built a widely adopted instant messaging platform for the energy and equity markets. CME Direct Messenger will build on Pivot's messaging platform to offer sophisticated instant messaging, content parsing and broadcast technologies. These tools are widely used to distribute and negotiate Request-for-Quotes, block orders, complex options and other order types within the energy and equity markets. CME Direct Messenger will integrate that technology into pre-trade, trade and post-trade workflows of traders and brokers.

CME Direct Messenger is part of CME Direct, a new technology offering side-by-side trading of exchange listed and over-the-counter markets. CME Direct currently supports trading of CME Group's benchmark energy futures markets and OTC energy swaps. These are part of the CME Group energy complex, which has average daily trading volumes of over 1.9 million contracts.

"Instant messaging has become a critical part of the financial community's price discovery and trading operations," said Michel Everaert, Managing Director, OTC Solutions at CME Group. "By integrating Pivot's messaging solutions with CME Direct, we will offer our customers an industry-leading messaging software, alongside the first fully automated front-to-back-office platform for trading CME Group's listed and OTC energy products. This is an important addition to our electronic trading offering for energy markets, and it will create new efficiencies and trading opportunities for our clients."

"Our suite of instant messaging technologies helps traders collaborate with one another in real time and enables them to negotiate complex trades quickly and efficiently," said John H. Eley, CEO of Pivot Inc. "By deeply embedding these tools into CME Direct, customers will have an integrated, state of the art, holistic platform for managing instant messaging workflows and trading listed and OTC derivatives markets."

For equity market participants, Pivot will continue to be offered and supported as a stand-alone service.

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 across asset classes for exchange-traded contracts and over-the-counter derivatives transactions. These products and services ensure that businesses everywhere can substantially mitigate counterparty credit risk.

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