ECX and ICE Futures Europe announce launch of Emissions CER options contract on 16 May
The European Climate Exchange (ECX) is delighted to announce the introduction of options contracts on Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) which will be available for trading from Friday 16 May 2008. The contract, formally known as the ICE ECX CFI CER Options Contract, will be listed and admitted to trading on the ICE platform and cleared by LCH.Clearnet.
Commenting on the new product, ECX Chief Executive, Patrick Birley, said "Listed options on CERs will enable market participants to manage price risk more efficiently and take advantage of the underlying volatility. Following the successful start of CER futures, we believe this contract will further help the development of the maturing market for products linked to the Clean Development Mechanism".
Further information including contract specifications and expiry dates can be found in appendix.
ICE ECX EUA and CER Options Expiry Dates
The ICE ECX EUA and CER Options Contracts cease trading at the end of the Designated Settlement Period (16:15 hours UK local time) on the third Business Day prior to the expiry of the relevant ICE ECX EUA and CER Futures Contract month. All in-the-money options will exercise into the Futures Contract automatically, at-the-money options will expire.
CONTACTS
ECX:
Patrick Birley, Chief Executive, European Climate Exchange
T +44 207 382 7818 | E patrick.birley@ecx.eu
ICE:
Kelly Loeffler, Vice President, Investor and Public Relations,
IntercontinentalExchange Inc.
T +1 770 857 4726 | E kelly.loeffler@theice.com
NOTES FOR EDITORS
About European Climate Exchange
The European Climate Exchange (ECX) manages the marketing and product development for ECX Carbon Financial Instruments (ECX CFIs), listed and admitted to trading on the ICE Futures electronic platform. ECX contracts are standardised and all trades are cleared by LCH.Clearnet. More than 80 leading businesses have signed up for membership to trade ECX products. In addition, several thousand clients can access the market via banks and brokers. ECX and ICE Futures is the most liquid, pan-European platform for carbon emissions trading, attracting over 80 % of the exchange-traded volume in the market.
ECX and ICE Futures emissions volumes for its EUA futures and options contracts are experiencing increasing growth. Since launch in April 2005, the ECX contracts have seen over 2 billion tonnes CO2 trade with an underlying market value of €39 bn. The open interest currently stands at 155 million tonnes. ECX is a member of the Climate Exchange Plc group of companies. Other member companies include the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) and the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE). Climate Exchange Plc (CLE) is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit www.ecx.eu
About IntercontinentalExchange
IntercontinentalExchange® (NYSE: ICE) operates global commodity and financial products marketplaces, including the world's leading electronic energy markets and soft commodity exchange. ICE's diverse futures and over-the-counter (OTC) markets offer contracts based on crude oil and refined products, natural gas, power and emissions, as well as agricultural commodities including canola, cocoa, coffee, cotton, ethanol, orange juice, wood pulp and sugar, in addition to foreign currency and equity index futures and options. ICE® conducts its energy futures markets through ICE Futures Europesm, its London-based futures exchange, which offers the world's leading oil benchmarks and trades nearly half of the world's global crude futures in its markets.
ICE conducts its soft commodity, foreign exchange and equity index markets through its U.S. futures exchange, ICE Futures U.S.sm, which provides global futures and options markets, as well as clearing services through ICE Clear U.S.sm In August 2007, ICE acquired the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange Inc., the leading agricultural futures exchange in Canada. ICE's state-of-the-art electronic trading platform brings market access and transparency to participants in more than 50 countries. ICE was added to the Russell 1000® Index in June 2006 and the S&P 500 Index in September 2007. Headquartered in Atlanta, ICE also has offices in Calgary, Chicago, Dublin, Houston, London, New York, Singapore and Winnipeg. For more information, please visit www.theice.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 - Statements in this press release regarding IntercontinentalExchange's and ICE Futures' business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see IntercontinentalExchange's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, each as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 26, 2007 and May 4, 2007, respectively.