Friday, May 05, 2006

The Merc Unveils Joint Venture With Reuters

From today's WSJ: Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. unveiled plans for a joint venture with Reuters Group PLC to trade additional currency products, part of a push to beef up its presence in the fastest-growing areas of the derivatives industry. Unlike other exchange operators, such as NYSE Group Inc. and Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., which are both looking to expand business through mergers with other exchanges, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings and other futures exchanges believe they can pick up business by expanding into the more loosely regulated and fragmented areas of the derivatives arena. The Merc and Reuters, the British media and financial company, will invest as much as $45 million apiece in the company, to be called FXMarketSpace.

The venture, expected to launch early next year, will allow customers to trade an array of currencies and eventually "forwards," swaps and other instruments that investors currently buy and sell in privately negotiated deals.

Read the whole article HERE