Options Market France

Options Market France (OMF) is a futures exchange and clearing house. In November 1987 Options Market France started publishing in association with the French bank CCF - now HSBC France - a stock index using the Reuters network under the symbol EFX 50. The index was computed from a basket of the 50 most liquid stocks traded on the Paris Stock Exchange, the Paris Bourse. At the time the CAC 40 did not exist yet and the French stock exchange instead published at the end of each trading day a trend indicator of the French stock market computed using the closing value of the 240 largest stocks by market value. The EFX 50 was the first stock index in Paris with a streaming update based on the transaction prices of the underlying stocks. In July 1988 it was granted authorization by the French Ministry of Finance to operate as a regulated Futures and Options Exchange. On July 21, 1988, OMF launched two contracts, a future contract on the EFX 50 and an option contract on the future. The contracts were traded electronically from workstations located in the dealing rooms of the exchange members. The contracts were cash settled. At its launch OMF exchange members included the large European, Japanese and American banks which also traded the notional bond contract on the MATIF. Market makers on the EFX 50 future contracts included SocGen and BNP. OMF also provided clearing of the contracts and acted as a clearing house. It was granted a bank charter by the Banque de France. OMF was thus able to guarantee the trades. In July 1988 OMF was acquired by a consortium of French banks. OMF was later merged into MATIF SA which launched the CAC 40 futures contract.

See also

• MATIF
• CAC 40
• OMX
• NYSE Euronext

References

• "Factiva". http://factiva.com/cp_developer/ProductHelp/FDK/FDK34/shared_elements/table_exchange.htm. 
• "bibiographie" (in French). 1989. http://www.dictionnaire-juridique.com/definition/terme.php. 
• "bulletin mensuel de la commission des operations de bourse" (in French). 1989. http://www.amf-france.org/documents/general/5933_1.pdf.