CME Group and trueEX Work Together to Deliver Credit Spread Futures™ New Indexes from S&P Dow Jones Indices

CHICAGO and NEW YORK, July 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, and trueEX, LLC, the first CFTC-regulated electronic exchange for swaps, today announced a non-binding agreement to forge a strategic partnership to develop trueEX Credit Spread Futures contracts based on the newly created S&P Indices that would be distributed to the global futures markets on CME Globex, subject to a final agreement.

Under the strategic arrangement, CME Clearing will also provide trueEX with clearing services for these products. The product set will include trueEX Credit Spread Futures contracts based on the newly-launched S&P Credit Spread Indices. On April 10, 2013, S&P Dow Jones Indices launched three new credit spread indices; the S&P 150 Investment Grade Credit Spread Index which is a combination of the Corporate Credit Spread Index (S&P 120 Credit Spread Corporate Index) based on the largest 120 investment grade issuers of long-term debt outstanding in the S&P 500, and the Financials Credit Spread Index (S&P 30 Credit Spread Financials Index) based on the largest 30 financial investment grade issuers of long-term debt outstanding in the S&P 500.   The trueEX Credit Spread Futures contracts will be cleared in the same clearinghouse as the S&P Equity 500 Futures Contracts.

"Along with CME Group's large IRS and Equity futures complex as well as OTC IRS and CDS clearing solutions, these credit spread futures will further complement the products we offer to help customers manage their credit market risk," said Laurent Paulhac, CME Group's Senior Managing Director of Interest Rate and OTC Products and Services.  "By distributing the contract on the CME Globex electronic trading platform, and clearing through the CME Clearing, it will reach the broadest client community very efficiently."

"The investor community is in need of an independently constructed broad–based credit spread index which is based on the largest corporate and financial debt issuers in the S&P 500.  trueEX has created a contract which will provide a transparent, standardized way for the global investor community to express a view on corporate credit spreads in futures form – something that has never previously been offered before to the futures client community," said Sunil Hirani, CEO of trueEx.

About CME Group
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 and its trading facilities in New York and Chicago.  CME Group also operates CME Clearing, one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, which offers 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.

About S&P Dow Jones Indices
S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a part of McGraw Hill Financial, is the world's largest, global resource for index-based concepts, data and research. Home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average™, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC has over 115 years of experience constructing innovative and transparent solutions that fulfill the needs of investors. More assets are invested in products based upon our indices than any other provider in the world. With over 830,000 indices covering a wide range of asset classes across the globe, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC defines the way investors measure and trade the markets. To learn more about our company, please visit www.spdji.com.

"Standard & Poor's® and S&P® are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC ("S&P"); Dow Jones® is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC ("Dow Jones"); and these trademarks have been licensed for use by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. The S&P 150 Investment Grade Credit Spread Index, S&P 120 Credit Spread Corporate Index, and the S&P 30 Credit Spread Financials Index (the "Indices") are products of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and has been licensed for use by TrueEX. TrueEX's product(s) are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones, S&P, or their respective affiliates, and neither S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones, S&P, nor their respective affiliates make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such product(s)."

About trueEX
New York-based trueEX LLC operates the first swaps exchange approved by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a Designated Contract Market (DCM). The trueEX DCM was designed from the ground up as the first Dodd-Frank compliant swaps exchange. The Company will initially trade interest rate swaps, will add other liquid derivatives to its portfolio and is the first to provide back loading, termination, rebalancing and compaction services for the IRS (interest rate swaps) market.

trueEX was founded by its CEO,  Sunil Hirani who also founded Creditex, the first electronic trading platform for credit default swaps (CDS).  In 2008, Mr. Hirani sold Creditex to Intercontinental Exchange, where he subsequently led the initiative to acquire The Clearing Corporation (TCC) which allowed ICE to clear credit derivatives globally. Mr. Hirani and members of the trueEX management team also launched T-Zero (now ICE Link)  and led the initiative to create Credit Event Fixings and Delta Neutral Auctions (DNA). For further information www.trueex.com

SOURCE trueEX; CME Group