Jonathan Seymour, Head of Equity Products at LIFFE, said, "The extension of expiry dates to five years will provide greater flexibility to market participants, while maintaining the existing benefits of the product - i.e. OTC-style trading on a bilateral basis, anonymity from the rest of the market, the regulatory protections associated with exchange trading, and the London Clearing House acting as central counterparty to the market."
LIFFE first launched a FLEX® Option contract on the FTSE 100 Index in June 1995, affording market participants the opportunity to customise exercise prices and define expiry dates out to a maximum of two years, whilst maintaining the security provided by exchange-traded contract.
The furthest permitted expiry date for the new FLEX® Options will be the third Friday of the next quarterly month (March, June, September and December) five years from the date on which the contract is made.
