Trading Newsflashes: CFTC No-Action Letter Okays Electronic Trading of Oil Futures Contract on U.S. Screens, and more

IntercontinentalExchange, the electronic energy marketplace, confirmed that London-based ICE Futures, it’s regulated futures subsidiary, plans to launch its West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude futures contract in the United States on this Friday, Feb. 3, 2006.

Despite the opposition of Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, ICE Futures received a letter dated Jan. 31, 2006, from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which authorizes ICE Futures’ WTI crude futures contract to be offered on trading screens located within the United States.

Though London-based ICE Futures is under the regulatory jurisdiction of the U.K. Financial Services Authority (FSA), it is authorized to offer its regulated contracts on trading screens in the U.S. through a no-action letter issued by the CFTC, according to the release.

The FSA confirmed that it had no objection to the listing of the contract in a letter dated Jan. 26, 2006, according to the release. According to a story in the WSJ on Friday, Jan. 27, Sen. Schumer asked U.S. regulators to stop the Intercontinental Exchange from listing crude oil contracts that lie outside the regulator’s daily oversight and that compete with futures listed on the New York Mercantile Exchange, which is located in the senator’s hometown.

“We believe that our electronic markets provide superior market surveillance and reporting tools that have been recognized by regulators globally,” states Jeffery Sprecher, ICE’s Chairman and CEO, in the release.

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