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Chicago Mercantile Exchange officially announced the grand opening of its new Asia Pacific regional headquarters in Hong Kong today (June 20) to capture growing opportunities in the region.
The new regional headquarters in Hong Kong signals CME's increased focus on Asia, with Hong Kong as the hub. Together with the offices in Tokyo and Sydney, the new Hong Kong operation will further strengthen CME's presence in the region.
The Hong Kong office will be headed by CME's Managing Director, Products and Services, Asia Mr C F Wong.
Commenting on the new move in Hong Kong, Mr Wong said that as the most diverse financial exchange in the world, CME offered futures and options on futures products in every major asset class to customers around the globe. "As we continue to expand our reach, Asia, in particular, is an increasingly important market of potential growth. While we have had a presence in the Asia Pacific region for some time, we felt now was the right time to expand our reach by establishing a new regional headquarters in Hong Kong to facilitate further expansion of our product offerings and increased levels of service to our Asian-based customers. Hong Kong was the clear choice of location due to its close relationship with Mainland China, its role as the regional financial hub, and its IT infrastructure and communications links with the region."
At the opening event, the Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong, Mr Mike Rowse, warmly welcomed CME's decision to expand into Hong Kong. "We are pleased to see the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, one of the world's top bourses, establish its Asia-Pacific headquarters here. Our world-class financial infrastructure and regulatory regime, rule of law, free flow of capital and information, and fully liberalised financial markets operating on a level playing field epitomise the Hong Kong advantage for CME and other leading financial services operations," Mr Rowse said. "CME's selection of Hong Kong as its base for business development in the Asia-Pacific is an important endorsement of our city's position as the international financial centre in this region."
Mr Rowse wished CME every success in the years to come.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (www.cme.com) is the world's largest and most diverse financial exchange. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on CME Globex electronic trading platform and on its trading floors. CME offers futures and options on futures in all major asset classes including: interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, commodities, energy and alternative investments. The exchange managed $47 billion in collateral deposits as at March 31, 2006, including $3.8 billion in deposits for non-CME products.
Invest Hong Kong is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government department charged with encouraging and facilitating inward investment into the city by providing the support needed to establish a business presence here. For more information, please visit the website at www.investhk.gov.hk.
Ends/Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Issued at HKT 17:50
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