Moscow Exchange and Eurex, the derivatives arm of Deutsche Börse Group, have signed a cooperation agreement for the trading of foreign exchange (FX) derivatives.
Through this new element of the partnership between Deutsche Börse and Moscow Exchange, Eurex Exchange will launch Euro/Russian Rouble and US Dollar/Russian Rouble FX futures on its trading system in Q4 2013.
Alexander Afanasiev, chief executive officer of Moscow Exchange, and Andreas Preuss, deputy CEO of Deutsche Börse and CEO of Eurex, signed a cooperation agreement for the new derivatives products in Frankfurt/Main. Both partners will also jointly promote the launch of these two FX futures.
“We continue to deepen our partnership with Deutsche Börse, and are working together closely to provide our market participants with new instruments,” says Afanasiev. “Today we agreed to launch Rouble FX futures in Frankfurt. This opens up exciting new trading and hedging opportunities for investors. Also, this autumn, Moscow Exchange will launch futures on five German blue chip stocks. Cross-listing arrangements between Deutsche Börse Group and Moscow Exchange allow our clients to build new trading strategies and better manage their risks. We believe that our joint initiatives with Deutsche Börse will strengthen national markets and facilitate the continued development of Frankfurt and Moscow as financial centres.”
“We are very pleased to have reached the next milestone of our partnership. This new cooperation fits perfectly into our goal to constantly expand our product offering as it will complement our planned FX product suite,” says Preuss.
Eurex will launch FX futures and options for six currency pairs on 7 October 2013.
Eurex’s product suite will be complemented with cash-settled futures for both Euro/Russian Rouble and US Dollar/Russian Rouble currency pairs in Q4 2013. Upon expiry, Eurex’s Rouble futures will be settled using settlement prices provided by Moscow Exchange. This procedure is intended to reinforce the integrity of the futures contracts and provide investors with confidence that the settlement price is both fair and accurate.
In Q2 2013, the average daily volume for both products on the Moscow Exchange amounted to over two million contracts with a notional value of USD2.1bn. In 2012, US Dollar/Russian Rouble futures were the third most popular foreign exchange futures contract globally among traded currency futures, according to the Futures Industry Association.
