The Cme Group, owner of the world's largest futures market, intends to launch a derivatives exchange in London with which it intends to compete with Eurex and Liffe. This was reported by the Bloomberg agency, citing considerations of "well-informed people": the initial move of the new stock exchange, which will have an independent CEO and management, should be the launch of futures on currencies. The authorization process could start as early as the next few weeks.
For Chicago group (Cme stands for Chicago Mercantile Exchange) is an important step. Listed on the Stock Exchange for ten years, it has become the most important operator of derivative instruments markets and controls 98% of futures exchanges in the USA and last year it opened the vehicle to land in London, the Cme Clearing Europe, the clearing house.
For Liffe and Eurex, controlled by Nyse Euronext and Deutsche Boerse, it is a formidable competitor. However, Chicago showed a focus on costs just a few months ago, when it preferred not to compete with the Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing for the acquisition of the London Metal Exchange, which cost the Asian group 2,2 billion dollars. Eurex is the most important European derivatives market and Liffe is the second, followed by Ice Futures Europe, the subsidiary of ICE of Atlanta (the second American group of futures, behind the Cme). The London Metal Exchange, on the other hand, is the market where 80% of world trading on base metal futures takes place.
Just Friday Cme Clearing Europe announced that it would also accept gold as collateral, effectively expanding the possibilities for trading derivatives. The deposit of gold in the vaults of Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings or Jp Morgan Chase will be accepted as a means of paying the margins necessary to start interventions on futures. It is a sign of flexibility that could facilitate the turnover of the projected European stock exchange, but it is also a sign of confidence in gold and in the upside possibilities of the safe haven par excellence.
