CFTC Staff Allows Taiwan Futures Exchange’s Futures Contract Based On The MSCI Taiwan Index To Be Offered And Sold In The United States

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC's) Office of General Counsel issued a no-action letter on October 11, 2006, permitting the offer and sale in the United States of the Taiwan Futures Exchange’s (TAIFEX’s) futures contract based on the MSCI Taiwan Index (MSCI Taiwan).

The MSCI Taiwan is a broad-based, free-float-market-capitalization-weighted composite security index, and as of March 8, 2006, was composed of 102 highly capitalized and actively traded stocks currently listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation. Managed by Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc., the MSCI Taiwan is designed to represent the overall performance of “blue chip” companies in Taiwan. Based on data supplied by TAIFEX, as of March 8, 2006, the total adjusted market capitalization of the MSCI Taiwan was approximately U.S. $240.8 billion.

• For information on foreign exchange-traded security index futures contracts pending no-action approval with the CFTC's Office of General Counsel see the Foreign Instrument Approvals & Exemptions Backgrounder at www.cftc.gov/opa/backgrounder/opapart30.htm.