CME Group and Morningstar on Wednesday announced a multi-year exclusive licensing agreement giving CME the right to launch futures and options on the Morningstar Market Indexes, formerly known as the CRSP Market Indexes.
The deal covers six U.S. equity benchmarks: the Morningstar US Total Market, Large Cap, Large Cap Value, Large Cap Growth, Mid Cap and Small Cap Indexes. Morningstar said the indexes underpin more than $3 trillion in linked assets.
It will be the first time derivatives have been offered on the benchmark family.
“We’re excited to collaborate with CME Group to offer derivative products for the first time on the Morningstar Market Indexes, broad measures of the US equity market,” said Amelia Furr, Morningstar Indexes President.
The agreement follows Morningstar’s acquisition of CRSP on February 2, which brought the index family under the Morningstar brand. The formal name change is scheduled to take effect before the market open on July 28, with no changes to tickers or file formats.
CME already holds exclusive index licensing agreements with other benchmark providers, including Nasdaq and FTSE Russell.
