Montreal Exchange Joins GLOBEX® Alliance

The Montreal Exchange (ME) announced on September 14 that it has joined the GLOBEX® Alliance with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), ParisBourse SBFSA, the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX) and the Bolsa de Mercadorias & Futures (BM&F), which joined the GLOBEX® Alliance on September 10, 1999. The Montreal Exchange also announced that it intends to use the same NSC Electronic Trading System developed by ParisBourseSBF SA and used by all of the GLOBEX® Alliance partners. The addition of the ME to the GLOBEX® Alliance will create a global trading link providing access to many of the world's most traded financial futures products on a single electronic trading platform. The GLOBEX® Alliance spans three of the world's major time zones. Under the GLOBEX® Alliance, members of each exchange will benefit from direct access to all the products of all the markets inside the Alliance through one single technical access, and receive trading privileges for the electronically traded products of the other exchanges, along with cross margining of positions in order to reduce the capital requirements of their customers and members. In addition, the Alliance partners are establishing a harmonized set of electronic trading rules and policies. CME Chairman Scott Gordon said: "The Montreal Exchange's decision to join the GLOBEX® Alliance further increases the momemtum of this global partnership and ensures that the significant financial futures products of the entire North American continent will join the other world-class products on one trading platform". "We are extremely pleased to be part of a global alliance making our products even more accessible on the international marketplace. On the North-South axis, by being linked with the CME and the BM&F, the Montreal Exchange will now be part of the first integrated continental market of exchanges in the Americas", said Gérald A. Lacoste, President and CEO of the Montreal Exchange. "As the market participants in today's major derivatives markets are more and more becoming global players, the services an exchange offers needs to provide a global reach. The interconnection of the GLOBEX Alliance partners, who have also chosen to use the NSC trading system developed by ParisBourse SBF SA, is a response to this need from our members and we are extremely pleased to welcome the Montreal Exchange as the fifth partner in the GLOBEX® Alliance" ParisBourseSBF SA Chairman and CEO Jean-François Théodore added. On his side, SIMEX Chairman Victor Liew announced: "SIMEX is very pleased to welcome the Montreal Exchange as the fifth member into the fast-expanding Alliance. We look forward to providing our users with the most extensive global access, that combines our Asian and international products with those covering the other major continents". Finally, BM&F Chairman Manoel Felix Cintra added: "It is a pleasure for BM&F to cede to the Montreal Exchange its newly acquired position as the newcomer to the GLOBEX® Alliance. By using the same trading platform and standardized operating rules, such an alliance will surely bring new and important business opportunities to the Exchange members involved. In a global and fast-communicating world this is the key to the success of the derivatives industry". The GLOBEX® Alliance uses the NSC trading platform, developed by ParisBourseSBF SA and used by over 15 exchanges worldwide, including the CME's GLOBEX2, introduced in September 1998. Each GLOBEX® Alliance exchange will connect to the central trading system via a common Application Programming Interface (API), the Hub API, being jointly developed by the GLOBEX® Alliance exchanges. The CME trades futures and options on agricultural commodities, foreign currencies, interest rates and stock indexes. BM&F trades futures and options on interest rates, exchange rates, stock indexes and agricultural commodities. ParisBourseSBF SA trades futures and options on interest rates, commodities, stocks and stock indexes. SIMEX trades futures and options on interest rates, stock indexes and energy. Known as the Canadian Derivatives Exchange?, the Montreal Exchange is the leading trading centre for financial futures in Canada. Among others offered, two major futures contracts ? the Three-Month Canadian Bankers' Acceptance Futures (BAX) and the Ten-year Government of Canada Bonds Futures (CGB) ? have been trading on the Exchange floor for more than ten years. The BAX serves as the benchmark for short-term interest rates in Canada. The new S&P Canada 60 futures and options contracts were introduced on the Montreal floor on September 7, 1999.