Topics in this issue include:

      System Updates

·         NEW: New June 26 Date for Submission of Additional Client Master Data

·         FIXML Delivery Transfer Message Enhancements Coming March 17, 2015

·         New Web Browser Standards

      Deliveries

·         CME Group Delivery Dates for February 2015

·         Approved List of Live Cattle Stockyards & Slaughter Plants - February 1, 2015

      Events & Announcements

·         NEW: Credit Event Advisory – CME Clearing Credit Event Processing for Caesars Entertainment Operating Co.

·         NEW: Product Listing Schedule Expansion: Australian Coking Coal (Platts) Low Vol Futures

·         February 2015 Eligible ETFs and Stocks

·         Monthly-to-Daily Conversion for Power Contracts begins on May 29, 2015

·         Change to Application of Full Value Margin Requirements for DME Oman Crude Oil Contracts

·         Application of Collateral Haircuts - March 2, 2015

·         Contact Information

Deliveries

CME Group Delivery Dates for February 2015

Attached are the relevant delivery dates for the January 2015 Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., Chicago Board of Trade, NYMEX, COMEX, and DME contracts.

Approved List of Live Cattle Stockyards & Slaughter Plants - February 1, 2015

The attached Stockyards and Slaughter Plants have been approved for deliveries against the CME Group Live Cattle futures contract from February 1, 2015 through January 31, 2016. Delivery point information and contact numbers are listed for your reference.

Also a reminder that effective February 2, 2015, the standard freight rate for live cattle carcass deliveries will be decreased to $4.10 per mile per contract. 

If there are any questions, please contact the Deliveries Unit at (312) 930-3172.

For additional details, please click here.

NEW: Credit Event Advisory – CME Clearing Credit Event Processing for Caesars Entertainment Operating Co.

The ISDA Determinations Committee has announced that an auction will be held in respect of Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. on Thursday, February 19, 2015.

The Credit Event Final Processing Date for this credit event will be held on the next valid business day following the Auction Final Price Determination Date (“Auction Date”). This means, if the auction is successful on Thursday, February 19, 2015, the Credit Event Final Processing Day will be held on Friday, February 20, 2015.

Credit Event Final Processing Date – the date, on or shortly after the Auction Final Price Determination Date, on which the final cash compensation and coupon amounts are calculated and the open interest is moved to the new version of the affected indices.

The last day of trading for the current version of the affected indices will be on the Auction Final Price Determination Date, Thursday, February 19, 2015. The first day of trading for the new version of the affected indices will be on the Credit Event Final Processing Date, Friday, February 20, 2015.

The new versions of the affected indices are listed below:

·         CDXHY14V7.SR.XR.USD

·         CDXHY15V7.SR.XR.USD

·         CDXHY16V7.SR.XR.USD

·         CDXHY17V7.SR.XR.USD

·         CDXHY18V4.SR.XR.USD

·         CDXHY19V3.SR.XR.USD

·         CDXHY20V3.SR.XR.USD

·         CDXHY21V3.SR.XR.USD

·         CDXHY22V3.SR.XR.USD

·         CDXHY23V2.SR.XR.USD

The Auction Settlement Date will be held on Monday, February 23, 2014.

Auction Settlement Date – the date on which the final cash compensation is settled.  CME Clearing settles the final cash compensation amount two business days after the Auction Final Price Determination Date.

Additional advisory notices will be published detailing the Credit Event Processing in New Release and Auction results.

If you have questions, please contact the CME Client Services Team at onboarding@cmegroup.com.

NEW: Product Listing Schedule Expansion: Australian Coking Coal (Platts) Low Vol Futures

Product Listing Schedule Expansion

Effective Sunday, March 8, 2015, for trade date Monday, March 9, 2015, and pending all relevant CFTC regulatory review periods, please be advised that NYMEX will expand the listing of contract months for the product listed below on Open Outcry and available for submission for clearing on CME ClearPort.

February 2015 Eligible ETFs and Stocks

CME Clearing accepts a select number of shares of ETFs and stocks for customer and house segregated performance bond collateral for Base Guaranty Fund products. Both ETFs and stocks are category 4 assets and are capped in total at $1 billion per clearing member firm. Please refer to the Standard Acceptable Collateral and Resources website for further details regarding acceptable collateral, haircuts, and limits.

For ETF and stock acceptance criteria and a list of eligible ETFs and stocks, please see Standard Acceptable Collateral and Resources website. CME Clearing utilizes a tiering methodology based on average daily volume to determine the number of eligible shares per clearing member firm.

CME Clearing utilizes the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) as the custodian for the ETF and Stock Programs. In order to participate in the programs, clearing members must have an account at DTCC. For those firms familiar with the DTCC system, the CME’s account has “Repo” status.

Clearing members with an account at DTCC can originate free pledges of securities to the CME account or request the release of pledged securities from the account at the CME. CME staff has direct access to DTCC’s system to view clearing member pledges and approve release requests. Release transactions are not finalized until CME has approved the transactions. Clearing members have the opportunity to pledge securities in the morning to facilitate the release of a.m. cash calls at the intra-day performance bond cycle, or to request the release of pledged securities. The deadline for morning transactions is 10:30 a.m. CST. Clearing members have an additional opportunity to pledge securities in anticipation of increases in their overnight performance bond requirements until approximately 1:30 p.m. CST.

If you need further information about the ETF and Stock Programs, please contact the Financial Unit at (312) 207-2594 or the Risk Management Group at (312) 648-3888.

Monthly-to-Daily Conversion for Power Contracts begins on May 29, 2015

Beginning with the June 2015 contract month and pending regulatory approvals, we are introducing an important enhancement in the way that the majority of monthly NYMEX power contracts are processed at maturity. Please see Special Executive Report 7253RR at: http://www.cmegroup.com/tools-information/lookups/advisories/ser/files/SER-7253RR.pdf

Currently, the last day of trading for these monthly cash-settled contracts is the last business day of the contract month. With this change, the monthly contracts will terminate trading prior to the start of the contract month and positions in the monthly contracts will be transformed automatically into strips of positions in the corresponding daily contracts, thereby allowing individual daily positions to be managed separately.

For questions or further information, please contact CME Clearing Services (CCS) at 312-207-2525 or ccs@cmegroup.com.

For the full details of this advisory, please click here.

Change to Application of Full Value Margin Requirements for DME Oman Crude Oil Contracts

In an effort to enhance capital efficiencies for clearing member firms and their customers, CME Clearing is pleased to announce a reduction in the number of business days full value margin is required for the DME Oman Crude contract. Effective with the March 2015 DME Oman Crude contract, the number of days full value margin is required will be reduced from approximately 60 days to 45 days. Please click here for additional details.

Application of Collateral Haircuts - March 2, 2015

Effective on March 2, 2015, CME will begin applying cross currency haircuts to USD denominated assets that are being used to meet non-USD denominated performance bond requirements. The haircut schedule will reflect the same haircuts that currently apply to FX cash as published on http://www.cmegroup.com/clearing/financial-and-collateral-management/. This haircut accounts for the currency risk associated with assets and performance bond requirements that are denominated in different currencies. 

In addition, CME will begin applying a cross currency risk haircut for non-cash collateral similar to the cross currency haircut currently applied to cash collateral. This is in addition to any security haircut that CME currently applies to account for assets denominated in one currency to be used to meet performance bond requirements that are denominated in a different currency. The haircut schedule will reflect the same haircuts that currently apply to FX cash as published on http://www.cmegroup.com/clearing/financial-and-collateral-management/. 

For further details, please click here.

Contact Information