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In response to the announcement today that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade have signed an agreement to merge, the Futures Industry Association issued the following statement from FIA President John Damgard:
“This is a historic moment for the futures industry. Trading volume has been breaking records year after year as the world has come to realize the risk management benefits of exchange-traded derivatives. We know very well that the CME and the CBOT had to overcome many difficult hurdles to reach this landmark agreement, and we look forward to learning more about the details.
“Consolidation usually leads to greater efficiencies. We saw how beneficial common clearing was for the users of these markets, and there is no doubt that consolidating the CME and CBOT products onto a single trading platform could lead to additional cost savings. In the coming days I am sure that our members will be weighing the implications of this proposed merger, and in particular the degree to which the expected benefits will accrue to the users of these markets as well as the shareholders.”
“Are there questions about the concentration of such a large share of futures trading on a single exchange? Yes, of course there are, and our members will be looking at that as will the regulators.
The FIA is a non-profit trade association for the futures industry based in Washington, D.C. Its membership includes the leading international futures commission merchants and more than 40 derivatives exchanges and clearing organizations from around the world.
Information about the FIA’s activities are available on its web site at www.futuresindustry.org.
