CHICAGO and MILAN, Italy, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — CME, the
largest U.S. futures exchange, today announced that IWBank, the online bank of BPU Group in Milan, and FinecoBank, the online bank of Capitalia Group, have become the first Italian customers to initiate direct access to CME Globex through the exchange’s new telecommunications hub in Italy. CME earned regulatory approval from the Italian government to provide direct access from Italy to CME Globex late last week.
“IWBank chose to connect directly to CME to improve the performance of our trading applications both in terms of execution speed and fairness and depth of market data,” said Pasquale Casale, CEO of IWBank. “IWBank’s customers are the best professional traders in Italy and require the highest level of reliability and performance. By establishing direct connectivity to CME Globex, IWBank will be able to well satisfy its customers’ needs.”
“The direct connection to CME’s electronic markets will offer FinecoBank strong business opportunities. This enhancement enables our customers to trade on CME Globex futures on indexes and foreign exchange in the most efficient and professional way,” said Franco Ravaglia, General Manager of FinecoBank.
“With PowerDesk 2, FinecoBank’s advanced trading platform, our customers will be directly connected with the most liquid derivatives market with an immediate advantage for their trading activity.”
“CME continues to respond to the strong interest from our customers in key financial centers throughout Europe to gain direct access to our markets,” said Arman Falsafi, CME Managing Director, Europe and Asia. “Our strong commitment to work closely with firms like IWBank and FinecoBank helps ensure fast and efficient connectivity to CME Globex and further expands the penetration of CME products and markets in Europe.”
Customers using CME’s hubs will connect to the Globex platform via
circuits ordered through the carrier of their choice. European customers using the new hubs can reduce their CME Globex connectivity charges by as much as 75 percent. CME installed its first hub in London in January 2002, and launched similar hubs in Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt, Gibraltar and Paris in the second quarter of 2004. CME now has 52 customers connected directly to its European hubs throughout Europe.
About IWBank
IWBank ( www.iwbank.it ) company of the BPU Group (Banche Popolari Unite), active from 1999 in the Trading online filed and previously known as ImiWeb, has increased its banking and financial services via Internet being the benchmark for the online financial services. IWBank offers, in an easily
accessible way, all the banking and investment services through the most innovative channels (Web, SMS, Palm, Call Center). Attention to the customer, advanced technology, quality of services and completeness of the instruments offered allow IWBank to be the ideal partner for both the most expert users and the investors who see the world of Banking and Trading online for the first time.
About FinecoBank
Established in 1999, FinecoBank (Capitalia Group) is now the top
direct/online bank in Italy with more than 420,000 customers and the first online broker in Europe with 8.5 million of executed orders and 56.5 billion euros of traded volumes at the end of 2003, and a market share of 30% of online orders — 7% of Italian Stock Exchange.
FinecoBank is the first broker to offer online access to four main stock markets worldwide: Italy, France, Germany, USA (NYSE, NASDAQ, Amex) and also to Etf, bonds, funds, derivatives, cross rates, repurchase agreements. FinecoBank is today one of the most innovative and customer-focused direct banks in Italy and one of the top online brands. Fineco’s mission is to combine best value, technology and brand to deliver tangible convenience to its clients.
About CME
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. ( www.cme.com ) is the largest
futures exchange in the United States. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and CME Globex(R) electronic trading platform. CME offers futures and options on futures primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moved about $1.6 billion per day in settlement payments in the first half of 2004 and managed $39.1 billion in collateral deposits as of June 30, 2004. CME is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CME), which is part of the Russell 1000(R) Index.
SOURCE Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.
Web Site: www.cme.com www.iwbank.it
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