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IN BRIEF
The SEC has paved the way for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to move forward with its plan for demutualization by declaring the exchange's registration statement "effective." The CME, which will vote on its plan June 6th, is the first major exchange to get the green light from the commission. A two-thirds majority vote of member's casting votes will be required for approval of the for-profit plan. The proposed Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. plans to issue two classes of shares. Class A shares represent equity rights, while Class B shares give trading rights and equity to current CME members, International Monetary Market (IMM) members and Index and Option Market (IOM) members, as well as Growth and Emerging Market (GEM) members. The corporation would be governed by a 19-member board of directors, reducing its current board, which consists of 39 members, over a two-year period.
Reducing its premises overhead by 68,000 square feet, the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE) has leased its vacant trading floor at the London Stock Exchange building, as well as another of its locations, to the Knight Trimark Group. This is LIFFE's second major premises transaction in the past four months, as the exchange is trying to finalize its transition into a wholly electronic market.
Triple Point Technology, a provider of commodity trading software and services, announced record first quarter results. Net revenues were up 29% over the previous quarter and up 24% over the same time last year. First Quarter software license revenues increased 254% over the previous quarter and 115% over last year. New licenses for Triple Point's flagship Tempest 2000 commodity trading business system accounted for 43% of the first quarter revenues. New clients for the first quarter include Emirates National Oil Company, Petrous LLC, Novarco Ltd., Transammonia, Marc Rich + Co. Investment AG and Reliance Industries Ltd.
FleetBoston Financial has selected PostX Corp.'s PostX Trade Confirmation System to deliver secure Internet trade confirmations directly to customers. FleetBoston subsidiary SURETRADE Inc. will be the first implementation site under the agreement. SURETRADE currently has over 450,000 customer accounts with nearly $3 billion in customer assets.