Bourse de Montréal reaches out to US market

Bourse de Montréal has obtained approval from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to offer US dealers and brokers access to its electronic trading platform, the Montréal Automated System (Sam), for trading futures contracts and options on futures contracts.

US brokers and dealers will be able to trade directly on Sam for their proprietary accounts, trade for their US customers, and accept orders from their US customers through automated order-routing systems for submission to Sam. However, these participants must first be admitted as approved participants of Bourse de Montréal.

The news follows last month’s announcement that the US is to have a new electronic equity derivatives exchange by year-end, following the formation of the Boston Options Exchange Group (Box), a joint venture between the Boston Stock Exchange, Bourse de Montréal and trade execution firm Interactive Brokers Group. Box aims to be trading by the last quarter of this year, and plans to list options on US equity indexes, exchange-traded funds and single-stock futures. Bourse de Montréal will provide customised electronic exchange software for derivatives trading.

“For the Montréal Exchange, access to the US market definitely offers increased potential for development. This news, while independent of our recently announced partnership to set up an electronic exchange for US securities options, further adds to the Bourse's visibility, both on the Canadian and the US markets,” said Luc Bertrand, president and chief executive of the Bourse de Montréal.