Morningstar Inc and derivatives marketplace CME Group Inc have signed a multi-year licensing agreement allowing CME to launch derivatives products based on key Morningstar equity indices.
The list includes several Morningstar US benchmarks, including large-cap, small-cap, mid-cap, growth and total market indices, the companies announced in a joint statement on June 11.
According to Tim McCourt, CME’s group senior managing director, the partnership allows the firms to “unlock more precise, next-generation risk management tools for the global investment community”.
“Together, CME Group’s deeply liquid equity derivatives marketplace paired with Morningstar’s data-driven, benchmark ecosystem is expected to allow us to provide our global clients with an optimised framework to safely navigate market volatility and capture new opportunities,” he says.
Morningstar expects the deal to “open new doors and bring our high-quality equity indexes to an entirely new segment of the global investment marketplace,” adds Ameilia Furr, president of the firm’s index arm Morningstar Indexes. “The new relationship with CME Group will accelerate our growth.”
