CME Group Announces Eight New European Power Contracts on CME Europe

LONDON, May 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives market place, announced today the launch of eight new European Power futures contracts on CME Europe.

European Power futures are base load and peak load contracts covering the German, French, Spanish and Italian markets and are all cash settled against the leading power auctions for each market. This is a significant expansion of the CME Europe utility slate of contracts and further enhances the choice of contracts available to participants across the whole energy market spectrum.

The contracts will be listed on CME Group's European exchange, CME Europe, for first trade date on Monday 15 June 2015 and are authorised and approved by the United Kingdom (UK) Financial Conduct Authority. All CME Group European Power contracts will be available on CME ClearPort, CME Globex and distributed via the Trayport platform alongside other exchange products.

"As European Power markets evolve with supply and demand changes and the impact of renewable energy, CME Group is committed to providing effective, relevant tools tailored to the risk management needs of our regional energy customers in those markets," said Cees Vermaas, Chief Executive Officer, CME Europe. "CME Europe provides choice in a range of products across energy markets, giving our clients best in class clearing technology, efficient margining and competitive fees."

CME Europe Power futures on German, Italian, Spanish and French markets are designed to help participants access and manage their price risk on the largest and some of the rapidly emerging electricity markets in Europe. This slate of contracts can be traded in tandem with the company's full suite of recently launched European natural gas futures, enabling participants to take a broad approach to energy risk management from a single marketplace and leveraging substantial savings across the two asset classes when cross margining across the slate is available in Q3 2015 (subject to regulatory approval).

CME Group offers cleared futures and options for the most extensive and liquid energy complex in the world including: a suite of natural gas futures products led by our Henry Hub Futures contract, recognised as the most widely traded benchmark for natural gas in the world; all three global crude oil benchmarks; refined products; biofuels; coal and electricity contracts.

These new power contracts will be subject to the rules of CME Europe and cleared via CME Clearing Europe, CME Group's European clearing house. Details of the new contracts are set out below and full contract specifications can be found at http://www.cmegroup.com/europe/products.  A complete list of products, members and product specifications can be found at http://www.cmegroup.com/europe.

As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage risk. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate. CME Group brings buyers and sellers together through its CME Globex® electronic trading platform, its trading facilities in New York and Chicago, and through its London-based CME Europe derivatives exchange.  CME Group also operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers through CME Clearing and CME Clearing Europe, which offer clearing and settlement services across asset classes for exchange-traded contracts and over-the-counter derivatives transactions.  These products and services ensure that businesses everywhere can substantially mitigate counterparty credit risk.

CME Group is a trademark of CME Group Inc. The Globe Logo, CME, Globex and Chicago Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.  CBOT and the Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc.  NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are registered trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc.  COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc.  KCBOT, KCBT and Kansas City Board of Trade are trademarks of The Board of Trade of Kansas City, Missouri, Inc.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Further information about CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) and its products can be found at www.cmegroup.com.

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SOURCE CME Group

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