CME's move lifts London

London received a major boost to its status as a global financial centre yesterday as the world's largest futures exchange, CME, revealed it has applied to run a new European derivatives market there.

That will pitch the new market against the existing big players in the European derivatives market, London-based Liffe, which is owned by NYSE Euronext, and Eurex, the Frankfurt-based exchange owned by Deutsche Börse.

IntercontinentalExchange and Nasdaq OMX also run their European derivatives markets in London.

CME controls 98 per cent of the US futures market.