CBOT Chairman Nickolas J. Neubauer said, "I have worked vigorously over the past two years as Chairman on behalf of our members to secure a strong future for the CBOT, and today's announcement provides us with a good foundation for future growth. Our Board of Directors and management team reached a decision that reflects the CBOT's long-term business objectives of continued independence and growth. Our selection of LIFFE CONNECT will significantly enhance the CBOT's competitive position. It will bring enormous benefits to our customers, and it allows the CBOT to continue to offer markets of the highest integrity, reliability, liquidity and flexibility for years to come."
CBOT President and CEO Bernard W. Dan added, "For the CBOT to remain a successful enterprise, we must improve our ability to respond to our customers and members; we must be flexible and adapt to the change that is occurring in our industry; we must be able to integrate that change into our structure, and we must continue to be innovative in terms of products and markets. This decision meets those criteria, and with our diversified product mix and the deep liquidity found in our markets, this new and improved functionality will provide the Chicago Board of Trade with a competitive advantage in the rapidly growing electronic trading marketplace.
"I want to thank Senior Vice President Mary McDonnell and her team for their diligent and objective evaluation of all trading platforms. This was an extremely difficult decision and I would like to personally thank Eurex for their support through this process and throughout the remainder of the year. We anticipate a seamless transition to the new platform over the next twelve months as the majority of our current electronic trading volume comes from customers and members who already are established users of LIFFE CONNECT and are familiar with the functionality and benefits offered by the platform."
Hugh Freedberg, Chief Executive Officer of Euronext.liffe said, "Meeting customer needs has been our priority throughout the development of LIFFE CONNECT and we are delighted that the CBOT has chosen our trading platform. This is a major achievement for Euronext.liffe and further confirms that our electronic trading technology offers unrivaled performance and functionality to customers.
"While this is first and foremost a technology agreement, the CBOT and Euronext.liffe have also agreed to cooperate on a variety of product and distribution initiatives. The decision by the CBOT to adopt LIFFE CONNECT as its electronic trading platform and the complementary nature of each exchange's product sets provides the basis for product cooperation between them. The CBOT and Euronext.liffe will make further announcements when research and development of a number of identified joint product opportunities have been completed."
The selection of the LIFFE CONNECT solution represents a culmination of months of extensive research and analysis by the CBOT that began in mid-2002 with a Request for Proposal that contemplated several key business activities critical to the CBOT attaining its strategic business objectives and to continuing the growth of the exchange's electronic trading volume. The evaluation team conducted extensive research and analysis of the CBOT's electronic needs and the CBOT customer's trading needs. All potential electronic trading platforms were evaluated from two general business perspectives: business functionality and technical capability.
Mr. Dan noted, "While business functionality and technical capability are interrelated at the point of execution, we felt strongly that business functionality in the areas of trading, flexible matching algorithms, product and market management had to be supported by a leading edge technical architecture. This combination as provided by LIFFE CONNECT will assure our customers and members that essential technical attributes such as reliability, scalability, maintainability, usability and security are the foundation of the CBOT's electronic trading system."
Mr. Neubauer added, "Users of our electronic trading system will have more flexibility in trade matching and enhanced product development and product maintenance capabilities, which translates into more innovative products and faster improvements to our existing product mix."
For more information about this announcement as well as the CBOT's products and markets, log on to the exchange web site at www.cbot.com
