For Crying Out Loud
CME Group Chairman Emeritus Leo Melamed is no stranger to storytelling. The author of four books, Melamed's latest, For Crying Out Loud: From Open Outcry to the Electronic Screen, chronicles CME Group's decade-long transformation from open outcry to electronic trading.
Melamed was one of the industry's pioneering advocates of electronic trading and was deeply involved in the exchange's push to develop the technology that evolved into the CME Globex electronic trading platform. Today CME Globex is widely recognized as the leading edge platform for derivatives trading.
The book covers additional key events at CME Group from 1996 to 2006, including its transformation from a nonprofit company to a public corporation. Multiple newsworthy essays written by Melamed during this period are also included. "Leo Melamed takes us inside the boardroom to understand the politics of running the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the context of its successful transformation from open outcry to round-the-clock electronic trading, the merger with the Chicago Board of Trade, and the transformation to a publicly traded company," says Michael H. Moskow, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Chicago Council on Foreign Affair's vice chairman and senior fellow on the global economy.
Technology Innovators
CME Group was ranked the number one technology innovator for the 2009 InformationWeek 500. This is the sixth year the exchange has been included on the prestigious list, but the first year that it has received top honors. Electronic trading represents more than 80 percent of the exchange's volume, and trades on CME Globex are executed in less than 7 milliseconds, with some of CME Group's markets already trading at 2.5 milliseconds.
"Our ongoing commitment to customer service shows through our technology and innovation developments," says CME Group Chief Information Officer Kevin Kometer. "We process millions of financial transactions per day from around the world. I'm proud of my entire team that we are recognized as a market leader in terms of using technology to become faster, more robust, and to improve our functionality."
Bursa Malaysia
Continuing to extend partnerships around the world, CME Group joined with Bursa Malaysia Berhad (Bursa Malaysia) to form a strategic partnership, subject to regulatory approval, which will facilitate the globalization of the Malaysian crude palm oil futures market, as well as the Bursa Malaysia derivatives market. The collaboration will include trade matching services, product licensing and minor cross-equity investments. In terms of equity participation, CME Group will buy a 25 percent stake in Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bursa Malaysia.
To strengthen Bursa Malaysia's position as the global price benchmark for crude palm oil, Bursa Malaysia Derivatives will license the right to use settlement prices for its ringgit-denominated crude palm oil futures contract to CME Group. This will enable CME Group to develop a dollar-denominated, cash-settled crude palm oil futures contracts and related options to trade on one of CME Group's U.S. registered exchanges. Malaysia is the world�s second largest producer of palm oil.
Thomas Lewis Joins Green Exchange Venture
This fall, Green Exchange Holdings LLC (Green Exchange Holdings), a consortium of leading financial and environmental companies, appointed Thomas Lewis as its chief executive officer. Lewis has served as chief executive of Ameritrade and Automated Power Exchange, Inc.
Lewis will lead Green Exchange Holdings' creation of an international marketplace for futures and options contracts based on environmental commodities. He will also provide strategic direction for the development of new and unique products to serve these burgeoning markets.
In addition, Lewis will direct Green Exchange LLC (Green Exchange), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Green Exchange Holdings, through the designated contract market process with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The venture will also seek recognition from overseas regulators.
Green Exchange Holdings is a joint venture among Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Constellation NewEnergy, Credit Suisse First Boston Next Fund, Evolution Markets, Goldman, Sachs, ICAP Energy, J.P. Morgan Ventures Energy, Morgan Stanley Capital Group, RNK Capital, Spectron Energy, TFS Energy, Tudor Investment and Vitol.
Spotlight on Innovation
CME Group Center for Innovation awarded the 2009 CME Group Fred Arditti Innovation Award to Harry Markowitz, a Nobel-prize winning economist. Markowitz is known for the revolutionary concept of modern portfolio choice, which quantifies the benefits of diversification. Investors use modern portfolio diversification for asset allocation, risk control and attribution analysis.
Each year the award, named after CME Group's former Chief Economist Fred Arditti, honors an individual or group whose innovative ideas, products or services have significantly affected the markets, commerce or trade.
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