Press

The international derivatives exchange Eurex is expanding its offering of Swiss underlying products to include futures and options on the SLI Swiss Leader Index®. The new products will be launched on 22 October. The SLI® index includes the 30 most liquid and largest stocks on the Swiss stock market and has been calculated by SWX Swiss Exchange as an addition to the SMI® bluechip index since 2 July 2007. The SLI® index offers international investors a basis that meets regulatory requirements, and the desired diversification for the Swiss market.

Eurex expects demand for derivatives on the SLI® index to come from both Swiss and international participants. The new index product, unlike the SMI® is UCITS-compliant and meets theCFTC’s criteria for a “broad” index.

The new futures contract has similar specifications to the current SMI® future. One index point corresponds to a value of CHF 10, there are four expiration dates a year, and settlement is made in cash. The tick size of the SLI® Index future is CHF 5, as opposed to CHF 10 for the SMI® future. At CHF 13,500, the contract size is far smaller than for the SMI contract, which has a contract size of CHF 87,000. This also makes the product more attractive for retail investors.

Options on the SLI® index will have a contract size of CHF 10 per index point. The minimum tick size is 0.1 index points, or a value of CHF 1 and the options will have a maximum maturity of 60 months.

The trading and clearing fees for the new futures and options will be waived until the end of the year.