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The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the largest U.S. options marketplace and the creator of listed options, in mid-April received two prestigious awards for leadership in product innovation.Additionally, a third award was given to a new product based on a CBOE benchmark index.
"It is especially satisfying to receive these awards during the month in which we celebrate our 35th anniversary," said CBOE Chairman and CEO William J. Brodsky."Product innovation has been the hallmark of CBOE's success since the Exchange was founded in 1973, and we intend to continue listening to customers of all types as we develop more unique products in coming years."
CBOE was named "U.S. Options Exchange of the Year" by Futures and Options World (FOW) at the annual FOW conference held in London at which organizations were recognized for making major contributions to the advancement of the global derivatives industry.
The award focused on CBOE's unique product mix, including volatility indexes, and impressive volume growth. Officials at FOW said, "As options grow at a rate that outstrips both futures and equities substantially over the last year, this was always going to be a difficult category to judge. Options have risen exponentially of late and for good reason. With market conditions as they are, experiencing the unprecedented volatility of late, options are a natural place to invest. One exchange has managed to get the best of both worlds by managing to combine both options and an index [the "VIX"] measuring market volatility. Having recorded the busiest year in its history during 2007, an impressive 944.5 million contracts... equating to around one-third of the U.S. options market?the CBOE has won the award for options 'house' of the year."
"Options have had a great year, and Chicago Board Options Exchange has led the way. The VIX contract really was the success of 2007," commented one of the FOW judges.
For the second year in a row, CBOE received the award for "Most Proactive Exchange for ETF Derivatives - The Americas" at the annual Global ETF Awards Dinner in New York City on April 17. CBOE trades options on 140 Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).ETFs are shares of trusts that hold portfolios of stocks designed to closely track the price performance and yield of specific indices and represent one of the most rapidly growing areas in the investment fund industry worldwide.
The PowerShares S&P BuyWrite Portfolio (PBP) won the award for "Most Innovative New Exchange Traded Fund" at the Annual Capital Link Closed-end Fund and Global ETF Conference in New York City on April 16.The PBP Fund is designed to track the performance of the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index (BXM). Introduced by CBOE in 2002, the BXM is a benchmark index that measures the performance of a theoretical portfolio of long S&P 500 Index stocks and short S&P 500 Index call options (SPX) against the portfolio.Dividends received are included in the performance.
CBOE, the largest U.S. options marketplace and creator of listed options, is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).For additional information about the CBOE and its products, access the CBOE website at www.cboe.com.
