CME Group, China Securities Index Co. Sign Agreement to Develop Commodity Indexes

CME Group

and China Securities Index Co. Ltd, today announced that they have signed an index development and product licensing agreement. Under this agreement, CME Group will grant CSI a license to use certain CME Group market data for the purposes of developing, calculating and disseminating commodity indexes. The first product to be jointly developed will be the CSI CME Group China Commodity Consumption Index, which is based on the end-of-day settlement prices for CME Group futures contracts on Soybeans and Corn, listed on and subject to the rules of CBOT; as well as Natural Gas, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil, and Copper, listed on and subject to the rules of NYMEX; and Gold and Silver, listed on and subject to the rules of COMEX. The agreement also provides for the listing, trading and clearing of derivatives products based on the commodity indexes to be developed by CSI and CME Group. "We are pleased to enter into this strategic partnership with CSI," said Terry Duffy, Executive Chairman and President of CME Group. "As Chinese futures markets internationalize, the new products that we develop with CSI will provide enhanced risk management opportunities to users in the global commodity markets." "China is a key market for us, and this agreement with CSI is another example of our commitment to serve the needs of market users based in China," said Phupinder Gill, Chief Executive Officer of CME Group. "We look forward to working closely together with CSI in the development and innovation of new products." "As capital markets liberalize, the demand for overseas financial derivatives by Chinese investors will increase gradually," said by Ma Zhigang, the Chief Executive Officer of CSI. "CSI has developed indexes based on multiple types of asset classes in different markets for over ten years. The cooperation with CME Group is an important component of the overseas development strategy of CSI. We look forward to working together with CME Group to provide diverse indexes and derivatives products to meet the needs of the markets."