The Chicago Mercantile Exchange has made no secret of its desire to diversify into Asia. So its agreement with the China Foreign Exchange Trade System & National Interbank Funding Centre (CFETS), China’s interbank foreign exchange and bond market, to provide electronic access to its FX and interest rate products should come as little surprise. “The signing of this agreement is a significant step in implementing our long-term Asian growth strategy,” says CME chairman Terry Duffy. “It is the result of many years of effort by Leo Melamed, our chairman emeritus, to help develop our Asian strategy as well as the contributions of other key individuals including Phupinder Gill, our president and chief operating officer, CME retired chairman Jack Sandner and president Xie Duo and his colleagues at CFETS.”