“Asia is a growing market for CME,” said CME Chairman Terry Duffy. “Over the past year, we have launched several strategic initiatives to increase accessibility and cost effectiveness for European and Asian market users. Adding this telecommunications hub in Singapore will reduce connectivity charges to CME Globex and enable us to continue to attract new customers to our electronic marketplace.”
“The anticipated launch of our first hub in Asia is part of our growth strategy to dramatically expand global product distribution and customer access to CME Globex,” added CME Chief Executive Officer Craig Donohue. “The strong volume growth in electronic trading, which currently represents nearly 70 percent of our average daily volume, indicates we are succeeding in bringing new customers to CME who find our products to be an attractive means to manage global risks.”
CME has more than doubled the number of European customers connected to CME Globex via its telecommunications hubs since the openings in Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt, Gibraltar, Milan and Paris this year. In January 2004, 25 European customers were connected to CME via a hub connection and today nearly 60 customers are now connected. In September 2004, average daily volume from European customers connected directly via the hubs rose to 220,000 contracts, an increase from 50,000 contracts in January 2004.
Customers using the Singapore hub will connect to CME Globex via circuits ordered through CME-approved local telecommunication vendors. Customers will determine the bandwidth size for their connections, as well as the number and type of circuits.
