Foreign Markets, Products, & Intermediaries

Indexes Underlying Contracts of Foreign Boards of Trade Authorized by the CFTC Pre-CFMA

Section 1a(25)(B)(v) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), 7 USC 1a(25)(B)(v), established a temporary “grandfather” provision permitting the offer and sale in the U.S. of security index futures traded on or subject to the rules of foreign boards of trade if the futures contracts were authorized by the CFTC before the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA) was enacted. Specifically, this exclusion provided that, until June 21, 2002, a security index is not a narrow-based security index if:

1. the future on the index is traded on or subject to the rules of a foreign board of trade;

2. the offer and sale in the United States of a futures contract on the index was authorized before the date of enactment of the CFMA; and

3. the conditions of such authorization continue to be met.

Prior to the effective date of the CFMA, these futures contracts were authorized to be offered to U.S. customers pursuant to no-action letters issued by the CFTC and its staff, to which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) did not object.

To prevent disruption to market participants, the SEC and CFTC permanently extended the exclusion in Section 1a(25)(B)(v) of the CEA beyond June 21, 2002. Thus, each such index continues to be excluded from the definition of a narrow-based security index, provided that it continues to be traded on or subject to the rules of a foreign board of trade and the conditions under which the offer and sale of a futures contract on the index in the United States was authorized continue to be met. If these conditions are met, such indexes are broad-based security indexes and futures on those indexes are regulated exclusively by the CFTC, unlike security futures products that are jointly regulated by the CFTC and SEC.

Below is a list of the security indexes underlying futures contracts that received CFTC no-action relief prior to the enactment of the CFMA on December 21, 2000 and which are broad-based security indexes. The indexes are listed alphabetically by exchange.

AE – The Amsterdam Exchanges (formed by merger of Financiele Termijnmarkt Amsterdam and European Options Exchange)

  • Eurotop 100 Index futures contract

EUREX – Eurex Deutschland (formerly DTB, Deutsche Terminbörse)

  • Dow Jones STOXX 50 Index futures contract
  • Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index futures contract
  • Deutsche Aktienindex (DAX) Stock Index futures contract

HKFE – Hong Kong Futures Exchange

  • Hang Seng Index futures contract
  • HKFE Taiwan Index futures contract

INTEX – International Futures Exchange (Bermuda) Ltd.

  • Financial News Composite Index futures contract

IDEM – Italian Stock Exchange (Mercato Italiano dei Derivati)

  • MIB 30 Index futures contract

LIFFE – London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange

  • Morgan Stanley Capital International Pan-Euro Index futures contract
  • Morgan Stanley Capital International Euro Index futures contract
  • FTSE International Eurobloc 100 Index futures contract
  • FTSE International Eurotop 300 Index futures contract
  • FTSE International Eurotop 300 (ex. UK) Index futures contract
  • FTSE International Eurotop 100 Index futures contract
  • Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100 Index futures contract
  • Financial Times Mid-250 Index futures contract (FTSE Mid-Cap)

MEFF RV (Meff Renta Variable)  –  Meff Sociedad Holding Rectora de Productos Financieros Derivados, S.A. (Spain)

  • IBEX-35 Stock Index futures contract

ME – Montreal Stock Exchange

  • S&P/TSE 60 Stock Index futures contract

MONEP – Marché des Options Négociables de Paris

  • CAC 40 Index futures contract
  • Dow Jones STOXX 50 Index futures contact
  • Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index futures contract

OM London Exchange Ltd. (formerly OMLX, London Securities and Derivatives Exchange, Ltd.)

  • OMX Stock Index Standardized futures contract
  • OMX Stock Index Flexible futures contract
  • OMXCAP Index Standardized futures contract
  • OMXCAP Index Flexible futures contract

OM – OM Stockholm Exchange AB

  • OMX Stock Index Standardized futures contract
  • OMXCAP Index Standardized futures contract

OSE – Osaka Stock Exchange

  • Nikkei Stock Index 300 futures contract (Nikkei 300)
  • Nikkei Stock Average Index futures contract (Nikkei 225)

SGX-DT – Singapore Exchange Derivatives Trading, Ltd. (formerly SIMEX, the Singapore International Monetary Exchange)

  • Morgan Stanley Capital International Singapore Free Stock Index futures contract
  • Morgan Stanley Capital International Hong Kong Stock Index futures contract
  • Morgan Stanley Capital International Taiwan Stock Index futures contract
  • Nikkei Stock Average futures contract
  • Nikkei Stock Index 300 futures contract (Nikkei 300)

SFE – Sydney Futures Exchange Ltd.

  • All Ordinaries Share Price Index futures contract
  • S&P/Australian Stock Exchange 200 Index futures contract

TSE – Tokyo Stock Exchange

  • Tokyo Stock Price Index futures contract (TOPIX)

TFE – Toronto Futures Exchange

  • Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) 300 Composite Index futures contract
  • TSE 100 Index futures contract
  • TSE 300 Spot Index
  • TSE 35 Index futures contract
  • TSE 35 Spot Index