CME breaks into Kospi market

CME Group’s longtime ties to the Korean market have paid off after the US exchange signed a deal with Korea Exchange (KRX) to host the Kospi 200 futures contract on its Globex trading platform. The deal will not include Kospi options – the world’s most traded single derivative contract.KRX has been looking to break into the US market for some time, with the exchange’s then chairman and chief executive, Jungho Kang, saying as far back as March 2004 that it was seeking no-action status from Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to allow the Kospi product to be accessed by America traders.Under the proposed agreement, CME Group will match the trades on Globex with KRX continuing to clear and settle their products. For CME, the move represents its first tangible deal in Asia, while KRX is able to post its contract on CME’s global exchange network. “It started with the merger...