The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Group) recently announced it will close its London-based derivatives exchange, CME Europe, and clearing house, CME Clearing Europe, by the end of 2017.
“While Europe continues to be a critically important and expanding market for CME Group, with average volumes of more than 2.6 million contracts per day from European clients during 2016, our customers have shown that they prefer to access our global products, deep liquidity and greater capital efficiencies through our U.S. infrastructure,” William Knottenbelt, CME Group senior managing director, International, said.
During the coming months, CME Group will work with market participants and regulators to ensure a smooth transition and an orderly wind down of business operations, including the provision of CME Group market alternatives for actively traded products on CME Europe.
“Though we have made the business decision to close these London-based entities, we will continue to maintain a significant operation in London to execute our global growth strategy, including serving our European client base, developing innovative products and services, and helping customers effectively manage their risk across every major asset class,” Knottenbelt said.
CME Group is the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, handling 3 billion contracts worth approximately $1 quadrillion annually (on average). Its exchanges include CME, Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), and Commodity exchange (COMEX).