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CME was among ten Chicago-area organizations announced today as winners of the third annual Chicago Innovation Awards sponsored by the Chicago Sun-Times and Kuczmarski & Associates. CME was recognized for its work with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) to integrate clearing operations. On January 2, 2004, CME began providing clearing and settlement services for all CBOT products. As a result, CME now clears approximately 85 percent of all U.S. futures and options-on-futures contracts. On Friday, Sept. 24, CME announced that for the first time it cleared one billion contracts for the calendar year.
“For over 100 years, CME has celebrated a remarkable spirit of innovation, and we are especially pleased to provide our market participants with savings in excess of $1.7 billion that is made possible by our clearing agreement with the CBOT,” said CME Chairman Terry Duffy. “We are committed to exceeding the expectations of our customers, and the awards we have received provide even more evidence of our ability to execute our business strategy.”
The Chicago Innovation Awards judging panel selected CME from more than 100 nominations for the 2004 awards. Nominees were judged based on the success of products and services introduced between January 2003 and June 2004 that uniquely satisfied unfulfilled needs in the marketplace.
“We are very proud of this industry recognition, which is a true reflection on the employees at CME and their dedication to continuous innovation and outstanding customer service,” said CME Chief Executive Officer Craig Donohue. “This commitment by everyone at CME, and our position today as the world’s largest derivatives clearing facility, allows us to maintain our global leadership position in financial technology.”
In late September, CME was named to CMP Media LLC's InformationWeek 500, a prestigious listing of the most innovative users of information technology in the United States. For 16 years, the InformationWeek 500 has tracked organizations' IT agendas, providing a unique opportunity to understand and examine their business practices across core areas of technology operations. Companies named to this list demonstrate a pattern of technological and organizational innovation.
The Financial Services 40, a listing by CMP Media LLC’s Wall Street & Technology of 40 leading institutions in insurance, banking and financial services, recognizes companies that have a track record of innovative IT practices that result in business success. This listing is derived from the renowned InformationWeek 500. CME was the only U.S. exchange to be recognized in this year’s Wall Street & Technology listing.
The InformationWeek 500 is the most detailed source of industry-specific IT budget data. The research project gathered in-depth information directly from companies about how they approach and prioritize their IT investments. The research identified and ranked the companies following an extensive online and phone study.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. became the first publicly traded U.S. financial exchange on Dec. 6, 2002. The company was added to the Russell 1000® Index on July 1, 2003. It is the parent company of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (www.cme.com), the largest futures exchange in the United States. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and GLOBEX® electronic trading platform. CME offers futures and options on futures primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moved about $1.6 billion per day in settlement payments in the first half of 2004 and managed $39.1 billion in collateral deposits at June 30, 2004.
