[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Barack Obama (D-IL) today made the following statement after shareholders approved the merger of CME Group and NYMEX Holdings (NYMEX), the parent company of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. Today’s merger combines two of the futures industry’s leading exchanges.

“The combination of CME Group and NYMEX will bring together the leading financial and agricultural exchange with the leading energy and metals exchange to greatly increase their joint competitiveness in today’s fast growing world trading markets. This merger will strengthen the Chicago financial services community just as the merger of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade did last year."

“In the years ahead, this new global market force will continue to innovate and create even more good jobs in the United States and for Illinois.”

Two years ago, NYMEX began using the CME Globex® electronic trading platform, and the full merger of the two exchanges will provide further integration and streamlined services for customers of each exchange. The combined entity will create a world class exchange for financial, agricultural, energy, and other futures products that will be better able to compete with other exchanges from around the world.

CME Group was formed last year by the historic merger of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade.