10-K

 
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
_________________________________________________________
FORM 10-K
_________________________________________________________
(Mark One)
ý
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2015
OR
¨
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Commission File Number 001-31553 
CME GROUP INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) 
Delaware
 
36-4459170
(State or Other Jurisdiction of
Incorporation or Organization)
 
(IRS Employer
Identification No.)
 
 
 
20 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois
 
60606
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)
 
(Zip Code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (312) 930-1000
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title Of Each Class
 
Name Of Each Exchange On Which Registered
Class A Common Stock $0.01 par value

 
NASDAQ GLOBAL SELECT MARKET
_________________________________________________________
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: Class B common stock, Class B-1, $0.01 par value; Class B common stock, Class B-2, $0.01 par value; Class B common stock, Class B-3, $0.01 par value; and Class B common stock, Class B-4, $0.01 par value.
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ý    No  ¨
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  ¨    No  ý
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ý    No  ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  ý    No  ¨
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act:
Large accelerated filer  x
 
Accelerated filer     o
 
 
 
Non-accelerated filer    o
(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)
Smaller reporting company o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ¨    No  ý
The aggregate market value of the voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2015, was approximately $31.1 billion (based on the closing price per share of CME Group Inc. Class A common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market (NASDAQ) on such date). The number of shares outstanding of each of the registrant’s classes of common stock as of February 10, 2016 was as follows: 338,412,729 shares of Class A common stock, $0.01 par value; 625 shares of Class B common stock, Class B-1, $0.01 par value; 813 shares of Class B common stock, Class B-2, $0.01 par value; 1,287 shares of Class B common stock, Class B-3, $0.01 par value; and 413 shares of Class B common stock, Class B-4, $0.01 par value.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE:
Documents
 
Form 10-K Reference
Portions of the CME Group Inc.’s Proxy Statement for the 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders
 
Part III
 


Table of Contents

CME GROUP INC.
ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K
INDEX
 
 
 
Page
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Item 1.
 
 
 
Item 1A.
 
 
 
Item 1B.
 
 
 
Item 2.
 
 
 
Item 3.
 
 
 
Item 4.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Item 5.
 
 
 
Item 6.
 
 
 
Item 7.
 
 
 
Item 7A.
 
 
 
Item 8.
 
 
 
Item 9.
 
 
 
Item 9A.
 
 
 
Item 9B.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Item 10.
 
 
 
Item 11.
 
 
 
Item 12.
 
 
 
Item 13.
 
 
 
Item 14.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Item 15.
 
 
 
 


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PART I
Certain Terms
All references to “options” or “options contracts” in the text of this document refer to options on futures contracts.
Unless otherwise indicated, references to CME Group Inc. (CME Group or the company) products include references to products listed on one of its regulated exchanges: Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME), Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. (CBOT), New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. (NYMEX) and Commodity Exchange, Inc. (COMEX). Products listed on these exchanges are subject to the rules and regulations of the particular exchange and the applicable rulebook should be consulted. Unless otherwise indicated, references to NYMEX include its subsidiary, COMEX.
Further information about CME Group and its products can be found at http://www.cmegroup.com. Information made available on our website does not constitute a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Information about Contract Volume and Average Rate per Contract
All amounts regarding contract volume and average rate per contract exclude our interest rate swaps and credit default swaps.
Trademark Information
CME Group is a trademark of CME Group Inc. The Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Globex and E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT, Chicago Board of Trade, KCBT and Kansas City Board of Trade are trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. Dow Jones, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and S&P are service and/or trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC, Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and S&P/Dow Jones Indices LLC, as the case may be, and have been licensed for use by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
From time to time, in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as in other written reports and verbal statements, we discuss our expectations regarding future performance. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “could,” “estimate,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “expect” and similar expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward-looking statements are based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data, current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the industries in which we operate and management's beliefs and assumptions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. We want to caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Among the factors that might affect our performance are:
increasing competition by foreign and domestic entities, including increased competition from new entrants into our markets and consolidation of existing entities;
our ability to keep pace with rapid technological developments, including our ability to complete the development, implementation and maintenance of the enhanced functionality required by our customers while maintaining reliability and ensuring that such technology is not vulnerable to security risks;
our ability to continue introducing competitive new products and services on a timely, cost-effective basis, including through our electronic trading capabilities, and our ability to maintain the competitiveness of our existing products and services, including our ability to provide effective services to the swaps market;
our ability to adjust our fixed costs and expenses if our revenues decline;
our ability to maintain existing customers, develop strategic relationships and attract new customers;
our ability to expand and offer our products outside the United States;
changes in domestic and non-U.S. regulations, including the impact of any changes in domestic and foreign laws or government policy with respect to our industry, such as any changes to regulations and policies that require increased financial and operational resources from us or our customers;
the costs associated with protecting our intellectual property rights and our ability to operate our business without violating the intellectual property rights of others;
decreases in revenue from our market data as a result of decreased demand;

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changes in our rate per contract due to shifts in the mix of the products traded, the trading venue and the mix of customers (whether the customer receives member or non-member fees or participates in one of our various incentive programs) and the impact of our tiered pricing structure;
the ability of our financial safeguards package to adequately protect us from the credit risks of clearing members;
the ability of our compliance and risk management methods to effectively monitor and manage our risks, including our ability to prevent errors and misconduct and protect our infrastructure against security breaches and misappropriation of our intellectual property assets;
changes in price levels and volatility in the derivatives markets and in underlying equity, foreign exchange, interest rate and commodities markets;
economic, political and market conditions, including the volatility of the capital and credit markets and the impact of economic conditions on the trading activity of our current and potential customers;
our ability to accommodate increases in contract volume and order transaction traffic and to implement enhancements without failure or degradation of the performance of our trading and clearing systems;
our ability to execute our growth strategy and maintain our growth effectively;
our ability to manage the risks and control the costs associated with our strategy for acquisitions, investments and alliances;
our ability to continue to generate funds and/or manage our indebtedness to allow us to continue to invest in our business;
industry and customer consolidation;
decreases in trading and clearing activity;
the imposition of a transaction tax or user fee on futures and options on futures transactions and/or repeal of the 60/40 tax treatment of such transactions; and
the unfavorable resolution of material legal proceedings. 
For a detailed discussion of these and other factors that might affect our performance, see Item 1A. of this Report beginning on page 14.


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ITEM 1.
BUSINESS
GENERAL DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS
CME Group serves the risk management and investment needs of customers around the globe.
CME was founded in 1898 as a not-for-profit corporation. In 2000, CME demutualized and became a shareholder-owned corporation. As a consequence, we adopted a for-profit approach to our business, including strategic initiatives aimed at optimizing contract volume, efficiency and liquidity. In 2002, Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (CME Holdings) completed its initial public offering of its Class A common stock, which is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “CME.” In 2007, CME Holdings merged with CBOT Holdings, Inc. and was renamed CME Group. In connection with the merger, we acquired the CBOT exchange. CBOT is a leading marketplace for trading agricultural and U.S. Treasury futures as well as options on futures. In 2008, we merged with NYMEX Holdings, Inc. and acquired NYMEX and COMEX. On NYMEX, customers primarily trade energy futures and options contracts, including contracts for crude oil, natural gas, heating oil and gasoline. On COMEX, customers trade metal futures and options contracts, including contracts for gold, silver and copper. We launched CME Clearing Europe in 2011 to expand our European presence and further extend the geographical reach of our clearing services. In 2012, we acquired The Board of Trade of Kansas City, Missouri, Inc. (KCBT) and its hard red winter wheat product line and effective December 2013, KCBT operations were transferred to CBOT. In April 2013, we purchased the non-controlling interest in CME Group Index Services from Dow Jones & Company (Dow Jones) resulting in an increase in our ownership to 27% of the S&P/Dow Jones Indices LLC (S&P/DJI) joint venture with McGraw-Hill, originally established in 2012. In 2013, CME Group began operating CME Ventures LLC (CME Ventures), which makes minority stake investments in early stage technology companies whose innovative products and services may impact CME Group’s business in the longer term. In 2013, we also began offering repository services and now offer global trade repository services in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. In April 2014, we launched CME Europe Limited, our U.K. exchange.
Our business has historically been subject to the extensive regulation of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). As a result of our global operations, we are also subject to the rules and regulations of the local jurisdictions in which we conduct business, including the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Additionally, our U.S. clearing house has been designated as systemically important, which carries with it enhanced regulatory oversight of certain of our risk-management standards, clearing and settlement activities, including additional oversight by the Federal Reserve Bank.
Our principal executive offices are located at 20 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60606, and our telephone number is 312-930-1000.
FINANCIAL INFORMATION ABOUT INDUSTRY SEGMENTS
The company reports the results of its operations as one reporting segment primarily comprised of the CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX exchanges. The remaining operations do not meet the thresholds for reporting separate segment information. Financial information about our reporting segment is hereby incorporated by reference to "Item 6. Selected Financial Data" on page 28 and "Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" on page 53.
NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS
We offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals. Our products include both exchange-traded and privately negotiated futures and options contracts and swaps. We bring buyers and sellers together through our CME Globex electronic trading platform across the globe and our open outcry trading facilities in Chicago and New York City, and provide hosting, connectivity and customer support for electronic trading through our co-location services. Our CME Direct technology offers side-by-side trading of exchange-listed and privately negotiated markets. We provide clearing and settlement services for exchange-traded contracts, as well as for cleared swaps, and provide regulatory reporting solutions for market participants through our global repository services in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Finally, we offer a wide range of market data services — including live quotes, delayed quotes, market reports and a comprehensive historical data service — and continue to expand into the index services business.

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Our Competitive Strengths
We provide innovative ways to manage risk and offer a number of key differentiating elements that set us apart from others in our industry, including:
Highly Liquid Markets Our listed futures and options markets provide an effective forum for our customers to manage their risk and meet their investment needs relating to our markets. We believe that our customers choose to trade on our centralized market due to its liquidity and price transparency. Market liquidity — or the ability of a market to absorb the execution of large purchases or sales quickly and efficiently, whereby the market recovers quickly following the execution of large orders — is key to attracting customers and contributing to a market's success.
Most Diverse Product Line Our products provide a means for hedging, speculation and asset allocation relating to the risks associated with, among other things, interest rate sensitive instruments, equity ownership, changes in the value of foreign currency, credit risk and changes in the prices of agricultural, energy and metal commodities. The estimated percentage of clearing and transaction fees revenue contributed by each product line is as follows:  
Product Line
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
Interest rate
 
31
%
 
33
%
 
29
%
Equity
 
19

 
19

 
19

Foreign exchange
 
7

 
6

 
8

Agricultural commodity
 
15

 
15

 
14

Energy
 
23

 
21

 
23

Metal
 
5

 
6

 
7

We believe that the breadth and diversity of our product lines and the variety of their underlying contracts is beneficial to our overall performance. Our asset classes contain products designed to address differing risk management needs, and customers are able to achieve operational and capital efficiencies by accessing our diverse products through our platforms and our clearing houses.
Our products are traded through CME Globex and other electronic trading platforms, our open outcry auction markets in Chicago and New York City, and through privately negotiated transactions that we clear. The estimated percentage of clearing and transaction fees revenue contributed by each trading venue is as follows:
Trading Venue
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
Electronic
 
81
%
 
80
%
 
79
%
Open outcry(1)
 
6

 
6

 
6

Privately negotiated(2) 
 
13

 
14

 
15

(1) In July 2015, we closed most of the futures pits in Chicago and New York. Most open outcry options markets remained open.
(2) Privately negotiated average daily volume includes both traditional block trades, off-exchange trades which were historically categorized as CME ClearPort (now executed as futures block trades), and Exchange for Related Positions (EFRPs).
In addition, our cleared-only CME interest rate swap and CME credit default swap contracts contributed approximately 2% of total revenue in 2013 through 2015.
Our products generate valuable information regarding prices and trading activity. Customers pay a subscription fee for real-time market data and have the choice of receiving their market data either directly from us or through a variety of third-party quote vendors and data providers. We also offer customers detailed historical market data for use in their development and analysis of various trading strategies. The estimated contributions of our market data and information services products, excluding our index market data offerings, based on percentage of total revenue, were 12% in 2015 and 11% in 2014 and 2013.
Safety and Soundness of our Markets We understand the importance of ensuring that our customers are able to manage and contain their trading risks. As the markets and the economy have evolved, we have worked to adapt our clearing services to meet the needs of our customers. We apply robust risk management standards and enforce and facilitate applicable regulatory customer protection standards for exchange-traded products and cleared swaps. Clearing member firms are continually monitored and examined to assess their outstanding risk, capital adequacy and compliance with customer protection rules and regulations. We utilize a combination of risk management capabilities to assess our clearing firms and their account exposure levels for all asset classes 24 hours a day throughout the trading week. The company operates two clearing houses: CME Clearing (a division of CME) and CME Clearing Europe.

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Our integrated clearing function is designed to ensure the safety and soundness of our markets by serving as the counterparty to every trade, becoming the buyer to each seller and the seller to each buyer, and limiting counterparty credit risk. The clearing house is responsible for settling trading accounts, clearing trades, collecting and maintaining performance bond funds, regulating delivery and reporting trading data. CME Clearing marks open positions to market at least twice a day, and requires payment from clearing firms whose positions have lost value and makes payments to clearing firms whose positions have gained value. For select cleared-only markets, positions are marked-to-market daily, with the capacity to mark-to-market more frequently as market conditions warrant. The CME ClearPort front-end system provides access to our flexible clearing services for block transactions and swaps. See “Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk,” beginning on page 48 and “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” beginning on page 14, for more information on our financial safeguards package and the associated credit risks related to our clearing services.
Superior Trading Technology and Distribution We strive to provide the most flexible architecture in terms of bringing new technology, innovations and solutions to the marketplace. Our CME Globex electronic platform is the trading engine for our central limit order book markets, and is available on a global basis nearly 24 hours a day throughout the trading week. The CME Globex platform is accessible through a wide variety of vendor provided and custom built trading systems that benefit from our open application programming interface approach. For the privately negotiated markets, we offer brokers and customers the CME Direct system for arranging, executing, recording and risk-managing trades. CME Direct is a trading and analysis system that also includes CME Messenger for instant-message capabilities and CME Straight-Through Processing for connecting trade information directly with customer order management and risk management systems and is designed to reduce errors and improve efficiency. In 2015, 87% of our contract volume was conducted electronically.
Together, our platforms offer:
certainty of execution;
vast capabilities to facilitate complex and demanding trading;
direct market access;
fairness, price transparency and anonymity;
convenience and efficiency; and
global distribution, including connection through high-speed international telecommunications hubs in key financial centers in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and hosting or global order routing to our global partner exchanges.
We also offer co-location services at our data center facility, which houses our trading match engines for all products traded on the CME Globex electronic trading platform. The service provides the lowest latency connection for our customers. The offering is made available to all customers on equal terms. We derived 2% of our revenues from our co-location business in 2013 through 2015.
Our Strategic Initiatives
The following is a description of our strategic initiatives:
Leading Core Business Innovation and Expanded Product Offerings We are focused on enhancing our customer relations to allow us to further cross-sell our products, expanding the strength of our existing benchmark products, launching new products and deepening open interest in our core futures and options on futures offerings. During this decade, our key product launches included Ultra-Long Bond Treasury futures and options and most recently the Ultra 10 Year Treasury futures, Weekly Treasury options, numerous Eurodollar mid-curve options, weekly and short-dated agricultural options, end of month equity options, deliverable interest rate swap futures, natural gas basis contacts, new base metal products, S&P Dividend futures and E-mini Russell 1000 futures. During 2015, we also experienced multiple volume records across our core product portfolio, including record average daily volume in options, electronic options and overall volume as well as in our energy and agricultural commodity product lines. In 2015, we introduced additional functionality for equities futures that enable market participants to execute a basis trade relative to the official close for the underlying index for more efficient cash management. We continue to invest in expanded sales and marketing capabilities and tools to broaden customer participation and to simplify the customer experience in order to increase their use of our offerings and reduce their regulatory burdens. Additionally, through CME Ventures, we have made minority investments in nine emerging technology companies whose innovative products or services could, in the long term, have an impact on CME’s key business drivers and the broader financial services ecosystem. We also provide the electronic auction platform on which the London Bullion Market Association silver price is calculated in partnership with Thomson Reuters which is responsible for the administration and governance of the benchmark and its distribution.
Globalizing our Company and our Business We continue to expand and diversify our customer base worldwide and offer customers around the world the most broadly diversified portfolio of benchmark products. We have expanded our international

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product suite with the launch of a number of regionally specific products, including cocoa, kilo gold, and urea fertilizer futures contracts, which help us appeal to risk management needs unique to a particular geography. We believe we have significant opportunity to expand the participation of our non-U.S. customer base in our markets. We are focused on core growth in global markets because we believe that Asia, Latin America, and other emerging markets will experience superior growth and development of their financial markets as they catch up to the more mature North American and European markets. In addition, we continue to expand our presence in major global financial centers, grow our commodities business outside the United States and penetrate emerging markets, such as China, India, Brazil and Mexico. In 2015, approximately 24% of our electronic volume was transactions customers reported to us as from outside the United States and 50% of our market data revenue is derived from outside the United States.
In order to accelerate our long-term integration in the global economy, CME Group has built out its international infrastructure and strategic relationships. In 2015, we expanded our capability to support physical delivery of locally relevant products in both Europe and Asia. In recent years, we also have extended the geographic reach of our clearing services through CME Clearing Europe, our U.K. clearing house, and initiated trading on CME Europe Limited, our London-based derivatives exchange featuring foreign exchange products and a suite of energy and agriculture products. Additionally, in 2015 we reached an agreement with the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) to promote each other's market infrastructure and facilitate the development of offshore RMB denominated products in both the United States and Asia.
Expanding our Customer Base and Enhancing Customer Participation in our Markets We continue to grow our business by targeting cross asset sales across client segments, driving international sales and generating new client participation across all regions. We have a long history of providing customer value and responsiveness and believe our products and services make us well positioned to help our customers adapt and comply with new regulations, while enabling them to efficiently manage their risks. We have a broad distribution network comprised of a combination of internal and external channels and front-end capabilities. With changing regulatory capital requirements for many of our customers and the need for greater efficiencies, we have added tools to enable customers to build trading and clearing positions in our markets in an efficient manner.
Our customer-centric approach to sales and distribution has resulted in greater customer participation over the past several years, including a gradual increase in the number of firms holding large exposures in futures since the OTC clearing mandates began in 2013.
With the ongoing implementation of regulatory reform, in the United States and in Europe, we expect capital efficiencies and centralized clearing to continue to be important for our global client base.
Extending our Risk Management and Post Trade Offerings and Solutions We provide a comprehensive multi-asset class clearing solution to the market for maximum operational ease and the capital efficiency that comes with connecting to our clearing houses. Our cleared swaps offerings provide participants the extensive counterparty credit risk reduction and transparency of our clearing services while preserving the prevailing execution processes, technology platforms and business structures currently in use in the marketplace. With clearing houses in both the United States and Europe, we can offer customers the choice of clearing in either location. Our clearing services also offer the ability to optimize collateral and capital efficiencies across their portfolios within the particular clearing house while meeting the heightened regulatory requirements on derivatives. We offer clearing services for interest rate, credit default, foreign exchange and commodity swaps. In 2015, we extended the number of IRS currencies cleared with the launch of our 19th currency, Brazilian Real IRS.
CME Group continues to introduce tools and services to assist customers with portfolio margining. During 2015, more than 40 unique marketplace participants utilized CME Group’s portfolio margining services. In the past two years we have introduced compression via coupon blending as well as CME CORE, an interactive margin calculator that enables clients to optimize their capital by providing insights on margin requirements prior to trading. We introduced multilateral compression for our cleared swap customers through a partnership with TriOptima, an ICAP company, in 2015. Additionally, we have added trade reporting services in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia.
During 2015, we cleared swap transactions with a notional value of more than $34.5 trillion, and open interest as of December 31, 2015 was $19.2 trillion.
Establishing Ourselves as the Leading Exchange Company Provider of Information Products and Index Services and Enhancing our Intellectual Property Portfolio We offer a variety of market data services for the futures, equities and the cleared swaps markets. Our joint venture with McGraw-Hill combines the world class capabilities of S&P Indices and Dow Jones Indices. As part of the joint venture, we acquired a long-term, ownership-linked, exclusive license to list futures and options on futures based on the S&P 500 Index and certain other S&P indices. In August, we entered into a licensing agreement with FTSE Russell and launched respective E-mini Russell 1000 futures in September 2015. We also continue to expand our existing intellectual property portfolio for our technology, products and services offerings.

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Patents, Trademarks and Licenses
We own the rights to a large number of trademarks, service marks, domain names and trade names in the United States, Europe and other parts of the world. We have registered many of our most important trademarks in the United States and other countries. We hold the rights to a number of patents and have made a number of patent applications. Our patents cover match engine, trader user interface, trading floor support, market data, general technology and clearing house functionalities. We also own the copyright to a variety of materials. Those copyrights, some of which are registered, include printed and on-line publications, websites, advertisements, educational material, graphic presentations and other literature, both textual and electronic. We attempt to protect our intellectual property rights by relying on trademarks, patents, copyrights, database rights, trade secrets, restrictions on disclosure and other methods.
We offer equity index futures and options on key benchmarks, including S&P, NASDAQ, Dow Jones, Nikkei and the FTSE Russell indexes. These products are listed by us subject to license agreements with the applicable owners of the indexes, some of which are exclusive. In connection with our joint venture with McGraw-Hill, we entered into a new license agreement (S&P License Agreement), which superseded our prior licensing arrangements and was assigned to the joint venture. CME’s license for the S&P 500 Index will be exclusive for futures and options on futures until one year prior to the termination of the S&P License Agreement, and non-exclusive for the last year. The license for the other S&P stock indexes is generally exclusive for futures and options on futures. The term of the S&P License Agreement will continue until the later of (i) December 31, 2017 or (ii) the date that is one year after the date that CME Group ceases to own at least five percent (accounting for dilution) of the outstanding joint venture interests. Upon the occurrence of certain events, including certain terminations of the joint venture, the term may be extended up to an additional ten years. CBOT has an exclusive license agreement (Dow Jones License Agreement) with CME Group Index Services LLC (CME Indexes) for certain Dow Jones indexes, which has also been assigned to the joint venture. The initial term of the agreement is through June 30, 2026. Following the initial term, the Dow Jones License Agreement shall automatically renew for renewal terms of five years thereafter so long as there is open interest in any of CBOT’s or its affiliates’ products based on one or more of the Dow Jones licensed indexes. In the event there is no open interest in any such products, then CME Indexes has the ability to terminate the agreement. We also have an exclusive license agreement for certain NASDAQ indexes through 2019. Copies of our S&P, Dow Jones and NASDAQ license arrangements have been filed as material contracts. We pay the applicable third party per trade fees based on contract volume under the terms of these licensing agreements.
We also have a long-term, non-exclusive licensing arrangement with ICE Benchmark Administration for the use of LIBOR to settle several of our interest rate products, including our Eurodollar contract. In August 2015, we entered into an exclusive license agreement with FTSE Russell.
We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain the exclusivity of our licensing agreements with S&P, Dow Jones, NASDAQ and FTSE Russell or be able to maintain our other existing licensing arrangements beyond the term of the current agreements. In addition, we cannot assure you that others will not succeed in creating stock index futures based on information similar to that which we have obtained by license, or that market participants will not increasingly use other instruments, including securities and options based on the S&P, Dow Jones or NASDAQ indexes, to manage or speculate on U.S. stock risks. Parties also may succeed in offering indexed products that are similar to our licensed products without being required to obtain a license, or in countries that are beyond our jurisdictional reach and/or our licensors.
Working Capital
We generally meet our funding requirements with internally generated funds supplemented from time to time with public debt and commercial paper offerings. For more information on our working capital needs, see “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Operations and Financial Condition—Liquidity and Capital Resources,” beginning on page 45, which section is incorporated herein by reference.
Customer Base
Our customer base includes professional traders, financial institutions, institutional and individual investors, major corporations, manufacturers, producers, governments and central banks. Our customers can connect to our CME Globex electronic trading platform from access points across the globe. Customers may be members of one or more of our CME, CBOT, NYMEX or COMEX exchanges. Rights to directly access our markets will depend upon the nature of the customer, such as whether the individual is a member of one of our exchanges or has executed an agreement with us for direct access.
U.S. trading rights and privileges are exchange-specific. Trading on our open outcry trading floors is conducted exclusively by our members. Membership on one of our U.S. futures exchanges also enables a customer to trade specific products at reduced rates and lower fees. Under the terms of the organizational documents of our U.S. exchanges, our members have certain rights that relate primarily to trading right protections, certain trading fee protections and certain membership benefit protections. In 2015, 81% of our contract volume was conducted by our members.

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The majority of clearing and transaction fees received from clearing firms represents charges for trades executed and cleared on behalf of their customers. One firm represented 13% of our clearing and transaction fees revenue for 2015. In the event a clearing firm were to withdraw, our experience indicates that the customer portion of the firm's trading activity would likely transfer to another clearing firm of the exchange.
Competition
The industry in which we operate is highly competitive and we expect competition to continue to intensify, especially in light of changes in the financial services industry driven by regulatory reforms such as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR),  Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II), Capital Requirements Directive IV (CRD IV), Market Abuse Directive, Basel III, and various other laws and regulations.

Please also refer to the discussion below and in the “Risk Factors” section beginning on page 14 for a description of competitive risks and uncertainties.
Competition in our Derivatives Business
We believe competition in the derivatives and securities business is based on a number of factors, including, among others:
brand and reputation;
efficient and secure settlement, clearing and support services;
depth and liquidity of markets;
breadth of product offerings and rate and quality of new product development and innovative services;
ability to position and expand upon existing products to address changing market needs;
efficient and seamless customer experience;
transparency, reliability and anonymity in transaction processing;
regulatory environment;
connectivity, accessibility and distribution;
technological capability and innovation; and
transaction costs. 
We believe that we compete favorably with respect to these factors. Our deep, liquid markets; diverse product offerings; rate and quality of new product development; and efficient, secure settlement, clearing and support services, distinguish us from others in the industry. We believe that in order to maintain our competitive position, we must continue to expand globally; develop new and innovative products; enhance our technology infrastructure, including its reliability and functionality; maintain liquidity and low transaction costs, and implement customer protections designed to ensure the integrity of our market and the confidence of our customers.
We compete in a large financial services trading, clearing and settlement marketplace globally. Our competitors include, among other entities, exchanges such as Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE); the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited; and Deutsche Börse AG. Competition in our industry continues to be dynamic and recent developments and alliances may result in a growing number of well-capitalized trading service providers that compete with all or a portion of our business. For example, the development of swap execution facilities and the mandated trading and/or clearing requirement for certain cleared swaps and privately negotiated products may lead to the creation of platforms that promote competitive substitutes for our exchange-traded and privately negotiated products.
Additionally, we face competition from substitute offerings. These substitutes can take the form of swaps contracts identical or similar to our listed futures contracts, or risk-similar products on spot and cash markets, securities exchanges, exchange traded funds and other instruments, and other venues and mechanisms that can serve to offset economic risks.
Competition in our Transaction Processing Business
In addition, we face a number of competitors in our transaction processing and other business services. In the past few years, there has been increased competition in the provision of clearing services and we expect competition to continue to increase in connection with the continued implementation of and compliance with Dodd-Frank.
Our competitors in the clearing services space include, among others, companies such as ICE, LCH.Clearnet Ltd., the Options Clearing Corporation, Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation and Deutsche Börse AG. In light of the implementation of

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Dodd-Frank's clearing mandate, the European clearing mandate (starting in 2016) and other reforms of the financial services industry, we believe that other exchanges and infrastructure providers also may undertake to provide clearing services.
We believe competition in the transaction processing and business services market is based on, among other things, the value of providing customers with capital efficiencies; quality and reliability of the services; creditworthiness of the clearing house; timely delivery of the services; reputation; offering breadth; confidentiality of positions and information security protective measures; and the fees charged for the services provided.
Competition in our Market Data Business
Technology companies, market data and information vendors and front-end software vendors also represent actual and potential competitors because they have their own substantial market data distribution capabilities that could serve as alternative means for receiving open market data feeds instead of connecting directly to our exchange.  Distributors and consumers of our market data may also use our market data as an input into a product that competes against one of our traded or cleared products.  Although we may receive license fees for such products, such fees may not offset the impact of any loss in revenue from our comparable product.
Regulatory Matters
We are primarily subject to the jurisdiction of the regulatory agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. We also are subject to varying levels of regulation by foreign jurisdictions that permit our exchanges and other businesses to offer our products and services to their citizens.
Please also refer to the discussion below and in the “Risk Factors” section beginning on page 14 for a description of regulatory and legislative risks and uncertainties.
Regulation in the United States
Our operation of U.S. futures exchanges and our U.S. clearing house is subject to extensive regulation by the CFTC that requires that our regulated subsidiaries satisfy the requirements of certain core principles relating to the operation and oversight of our markets and our clearing house. The CFTC carries out the regulation of the futures markets and clearing houses in accordance with the provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act as amended by, among others, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act and Dodd-Frank. The CFTC is subject to reauthorization every five years. Following the enactment of Dodd-Frank, the CFTC has moved from a principles-based to a more prescriptive regulatory approach over most aspects of our trading and clearing operations.
Over the past five years, a number of regulations implementing Dodd-Frank were finalized, including rules relating to the implementation of mandatory clearing of certain over-the-counter derivatives, swap reporting, operation of a clearing house, anti-manipulation, large trader reporting, product definitions, the definition of an agricultural commodity and certain provisions of the rules applicable to designated contract markets, swap execution facilities and swap data repositories. We continue to believe the new regulations provide opportunities for our business, which we continue to explore. However, portions of Dodd-Frank remain subject to further rulemaking, and such final regulations could include provisions that negatively impact our business.
Our U.S. clearing house has been designated as a systemically important financial market utility and a systemically important derivatives clearing organization. These designations carry with them additional regulatory oversight of certain of our risk-management standards, clearing and settlement activities by the Federal Reserve Bank and the CFTC.
Our U.S. swap data repository service and swap execution facility are also subject to the requirements of the Commodity Exchange Act and the regulations of the CFTC.
Regulation in the United Kingdom and the European Union
In the United Kingdom our operations are subject to multiple regulators: the Bank of England; the FCA and ESMA. CME Clearing (our U.S. clearing house) is subject to certain conditions and reporting obligations as a result of its recognition by ESMA. In the European Union, we also are subject to several supervisory authorities for financial services, including ESMA. Multiple directives and regulations such as MiFID II and changes to the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR); the Capital Requirements Regulations IV and the Market Abuse Directive, have been proposed and, in certain circumstances implemented, with provisions similar to those contained in Dodd-Frank.
Key Areas of Focus
We actively monitor and participate in the domestic and international rulemaking processes for our industry, including providing government testimony, commenting on proposed rulemakings and educating our regulators on potential impacts to the marketplace.

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Our key areas of focus in the regulatory environment are:
The formal steps necessary for our U.S. clearing house to be deemed a qualifying central counterparty (QCCP) in relation to an equivalence determination agreement recently entered into between the United States and the European Union regarding central counterparty regulatory frameworks.  A failure of our U.S. clearing house to be deemed a QCCP may result in our clearing members and customers based in Europe being subject to more stringent capital requirements thus creating a disincentive to use our markets.
The adoption and implementation of position limit rules, which could have a significant impact on our commodities business if comparable trading venues in foreign jurisdictions are not subject to equivalent limitations.
Rules respecting capital charges under Basel III with respect to clearing members of central counterparties. There is a risk that these new standards may impose overly burdensome capital requirements on our clearing members and customers.
The potential impact of MiFID II and MiFIR on non-E.U. clearing houses with customers based in Europe.
The potential for further regulation stemming from industry performance disruptions and residual concerns around electronic trading activity and, in particular, "high frequency trading."
The potential elimination of the 60/40 tax treatment of certain of our futures and options contracts, which would impose a significant increase in tax rates applicable to certain market participants and could result in a decrease in their trading activity.
The implementation of a transaction tax or user fee in the United States or European Union which could discourage institutions and individuals from using our markets or products or encourage them to trade in another less costly jurisdiction.
Regulations implementing the core principles for designated contract markets, including any changes to the rules implementing the competitive execution requirements of Core Principle 9. Rules promulgated under this provision may require us to make modifications to the manner in which certain of our contracts trade and/or require that such products be de-listed as futures and re-listed as swaps after a specified compliance period.
The implementation of legislation in the European Union impacting how benchmark index prices are formed, including new requirements for price submitters, price aggregators and markets that list contracts that reference index prices.
Concerns that legislators will prohibit or restrict exclusive licenses for benchmark indexes, which might impact the profitability of several of our most popular contracts.
The implementation of rules resulting in negative treatment of the liquidity profile of U.S. Treasury securities, including as qualifying liquidity resources, or any potential limitation on the use of U.S. Treasury securities as collateral could result in increased costs to us and our clearing firms.
Employees
As of December 31, 2015, we had approximately 2,530 employees. We consider relations with our employees to be good.
Senior Leadership Team and Executive Officers
Set forth below is the company's Senior Leadership Team, including those individuals designated executive officers of the company, as of the date of this filing.
Terrence A. Duffy, 57. Mr. Duffy has served as our Executive Chairman and President since May 2012. Mr. Duffy previously served as our Executive Chairman from 2006 and has been a member of our board of directors since 1995. He also served as President of TDA Trading, Inc. from 1981 to 2002 and has been a member of our CME exchange since 1981. Mr. Duffy has been designated as an executive officer.
Phupinder S. Gill, 55. Mr. Gill has served as our Chief Executive Officer and a member of our board of directors since May 2012. Previously, he served as our President from 2007 to May 2012. Mr. Gill joined us in 1988 and since then has held various positions of increasing responsibility within the organization, including President and Chief Operating Officer, and Managing Director and President of CME Clearing and GFX Corporation. Mr. Gill has been designated as an executive officer. Mr. Gill also serves as a director of First Midwest Bancorp. Inc.
Kathleen M. Cronin, 52. Ms. Cronin has served as our Senior Managing Director, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary since 2003. Previously she served as Corporate Secretary and Acting General Counsel from 2002 through 2003. Prior to joining us, Ms. Cronin was a corporate attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP from 1989 through 1995 and

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from 1997 through 2002. Ms. Cronin has been designated as an executive officer. Ms. Cronin also serves as a director of Kemper Corporation.
Sunil Cutinho, 44. Mr. Cutinho has served as President of CME Clearing since September 2014. He joined CME Group in 2002 and since then has held various positions of increasing responsibility within the organization and, most recently served as Managing Director, Deputy Head of CME Clearing from April 2014 through September 2014. Mr. Cutinho has been designated as an executive officer.
Bryan T. Durkin, 55. Mr. Durkin has served as our Senior Managing Director, Chief Commercial Officer since September 2014. He previously served as our Chief Operating Officer since 2007 and also held the title of Managing Director, Products and Services from 2010 to July 2012. Mr. Durkin joined us in connection with the CBOT merger and he previously held a variety of leadership roles with CBOT from 1982 to 2007, most recently as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Durkin also serves as our representative on the board of Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad. Mr. Durkin has been designated as an executive officer.
Julie Holzrichter, 47. Ms. Holzrichter has served as our Senior Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer since September 2014. She previously served as our Senior Managing Director, Global Operations from 2007. Ms. Holzrichter rejoined us in 2006 as our Managing Director, CME Globex Services and Technology Integration. Ms. Holzrichter previously held positions of increasing responsibility in our organization from 1986 to 2003 in trading operations. Ms. Holzrichter has been designated as an executive officer.
William Knottenbelt, 55. Mr. Knottenbelt has served as Senior Managing Director, International since September 2014. He previously served as Senior Managing Director, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) since February 2014. Previously, Mr. Knottenbelt served as Managing Director, EMEA since joining the company in 2011. Prior to joining CME Group, Mr. Knottenbelt most recently served as Global Head of Futures for the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) where he built out the global reach and product offering of RBS futures.
Kevin Kometer, 51. Mr. Kometer has served as Senior Managing Director and Chief Information Officer since 2008. He previously served as Managing Director and Deputy Chief Information Officer from 2007 to 2008. Since joining the company most recently in 1998, he has held senior leadership positions in the Technology Division, including Managing Director, Trading Execution Systems and Director, Advanced Technology. Mr. Kometer was also with the company from 1994 to 1996. Mr. Kometer has been designated as an executive officer.
Hilda Harris Piell, 48. Ms. Piell has served as Senior Managing Director and Chief Human Resources Officer since 2007. Previously she served as Managing Director and Senior Associate General Counsel, as Director and Associate General Counsel and as Associate Director and Assistant General Counsel since joining us in 2000. Ms. Piell has been designated as an executive officer.
John W. Pietrowicz, 51. Mr. Pietrowicz has served as our Chief Financial Officer since December 2014. Previously, Mr. Pietrowicz served as our Senior Managing Director, Business Development and Corporate Finance since 2010. Mr. Pietrowicz joined us in 2003 and since then has held various positions of increasing responsibility, including Managing Director and Deputy Chief Financial Officer from 2009 to 2010 and Managing Director, Corporate Finance and Treasury from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Pietrowicz has been designated as an executive officer. In connection with our investments, Mr. Pietrowicz also serves as a director of Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, S.A.B. de C.V. and of S&P/Dow Jones Indices LLC.
Linda Rich, 52. Ms. Rich has served as our Senior Managing Director, Government Relations and Legislative Affairs since April 2012. Prior to assuming her current role, Ms. Rich served as Managing Director, Government Relations and Legislative Affairs since joining us in 2010. Before joining the company, Ms. Rich served as Senior Vice President, Government Relations for NYSE Euronext. Her background also includes serving as senior counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services and as counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Commerce.
Derek Sammann, 48. Mr. Sammann has served as our Senior Managing Director, Commodities and Options Products since September 2014. He previously served as our Senior Managing Director, Financial Products and Services since 2009 and Global Head of Foreign Exchange Products since joining us in 2006. Prior to joining us, Mr. Sammann served as Managing Director, Global Head of FX Options and Structured Products at Calyon Corporate and Investment Bank in London from 1997 to 2006. Mr. Sammann has been designated as an executive officer.
Kimberly S. Taylor, 54. Ms. Taylor has served as our President, Global Operations, Technology & Risk since September 2014. She previously served as President, CME Clearing since 2004 and as Managing Director, Risk Management in the Clearing House Division from 1998 to 2003. Ms. Taylor has held a variety of positions in the clearing house, including Vice President and Senior Director. She joined us in 1989.  Ms. Taylor has been designated as an executive officer.
Jack Tobin, 52. Mr. Tobin has served as our Chief Accounting Officer since February 2015. Mr. Tobin most recently served as our Managing Director, Corporate Finance since 2007. Prior to our merger with CBOT Holdings, Mr. Tobin served as the

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Director, Corporate Finance for CBOT Holdings, Inc. and CBOT from 2002 to 2007. Prior to joining CBOT, Mr. Tobin served as a principal consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers from 1997 to 2002. Mr. Tobin is a registered certified public accountant and has been designated as an executive officer. 
Sean Tully, 52. Mr. Tully has served as Senior Managing Director, Financial and OTC Products of CME Group since September 2014. He previously served as Senior Managing Director, Interest Rates and OTC Products since February 2014. Previously, he served as Managing Director, Interest Rate and OTC Products since October 2013 and as our Managing Director, Interest Products since joining us in 2011. Before joining the company, Mr. Tully most recently served as Managing Director, Global Head of Fixed Income Trading at WestLB in London. Mr. Tully has been designated as an executive officer.
Julie Winkler, 41. Ms. Winkler has served as Senior Managing Director, Research and Product Development and Index Services of CME Group since 2014. She previously served as Senior Managing Director, Research and Product Development of CME Group since February 2014. Previously, she served as Managing Director, Research and Product Development since 2007. Prior to our merger with CBOT Holdings, Ms. Winkler held positions of increasing responsibility for CBOT Holdings since 1996. Ms. Winkler also serves as a director of S&P/Dow Jones Indices LLC.
Robert Zagotta, 51. Mr. Zagotta has served as Senior Managing Director, Strategy & Execution since September 2014. He previously served as Senior Managing Director, Products and Services of CME Group since 2012. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Zagotta most recently served as Executive Vice President, Business Strategy and Execution for Project Leadership Associates (PLA) from 2007 to 2012, where he worked with CME Group on a number of strategic consulting assignments. Before joining PLA, Mr. Zagotta was CEO and Co-Founder of Fourth Floor Consulting, which was acquired by PLA, and a Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Zagotta has been designated as an executive officer.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION ABOUT GEOGRAPHIC AREAS
We track trading volume based on the country of origin of the transaction as disclosed to us by the customer. During 2015, 2014 and 2013, we estimate that approximately 24%, 24% and 22% of our electronic trading volume, respectively, were reported to us as originating from outside the United States.
AVAILABLE INFORMATION
Our website is www.cmegroup.com. Information made available on our website does not constitute part of this document. We make available on our website our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file or furnish such materials to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Our corporate governance materials, including our Corporate Governance Principles, Director Conflict of Interest Policy, Board of Directors Code of Ethics, Categorical Independence Standards, Employee Code of Conduct and the charters for all the standing committees of our board, also may be found on our website. Copies of these materials also are available to shareholders free of charge upon written request to Shareholder Relations, Attention Ms. Beth Hausoul, CME Group Inc., 20 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60606.
ITEM 1A.    RISK FACTORS
In addition to the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, you should carefully consider the factors discussed below, which are the risks we believe are material at this time. These risks could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. These risks and uncertainties are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may also adversely affect our business.
RISKS RELATING TO OUR INDUSTRY
Our business is subject to the impact of domestic and international market, economic and political conditions that are beyond our control and that could significantly reduce our contract volumes and make our financial results more volatile.
Our revenue is substantially dependent on the contract volume in our markets. Our contract volume is directly affected by domestic and international factors that are beyond our control, including:
economic, political and geopolitical market conditions;
legislative and regulatory changes, including any direct or indirect restrictions on or increased costs associated with trading in our markets;
broad trends in the industry and financial markets;
changes in price levels, contract volumes and volatility in the derivatives markets and in underlying equity, foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity markets;

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shifts in global or regional demand or supply in commodities underlying our products;
competition;
changes in government monetary policies, especially central bank decisions related to quantitative easing;
availability of capital to our market participants and their appetite for risk-taking;
levels of assets under management;
volatile weather patterns, droughts, natural disasters and other catastrophes;
pandemics affecting our customer base or our ability to operate our markets; and
consolidation in our customer base and within our industry.
Any one or more of these factors may contribute to reduced activity in our markets. Historically, periods of heightened uncertainty have tended to increase our trading volume due to increased hedging activity and the increased need to manage the risks associated with, or speculate on, volatility in the U.S. equity markets, fluctuations in interest rates and price changes in the foreign exchange, commodity and other markets. However, as evidenced by our past performance, in the period after a material market disturbance, there may persist extreme uncertainties which may lead to decreased volume due to factors such as reduced risk exposure, lower interest rates, central bank asset purchase programs and lack of available capital. The shifts in market trading patterns we experienced as a result of the financial disturbance of 2008 may or may not recur in the future, and our business will be affected by future economic uncertainties which may result in decreased trading volume and a more difficult business environment for us. Material decreases in trading volume would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.
We operate in a heavily regulated environment that imposes significant costs and competitive burdens on our business.
We are primarily subject to the jurisdiction of the regulatory agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. We also are subject to varying levels of regulation by foreign jurisdictions that permit our exchanges to offer our products and services to their citizens.
Due to the global financial crisis that began in 2008, the United States and numerous other governments have undertaken reviews of the existing legal framework governing financial markets and have either passed new laws and regulations, or are in the process of debating or enacting new laws and regulations that will impact our business. While certain of these changes may have a positive impact on our business, some of these changes could adversely affect our business, including areas of regulatory focus discussed under "Item 1 – Business – Regulatory Matters" beginning on page 11. Compliance with regulations may require us and our customers to dedicate significant financial and operational resources that could result in some participants leaving our markets or decreasing their trading activity, which would negatively affect our profitability. We have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant additional costs to comply with the extensive regulations that apply to our business. To the extent the regulatory environment following the implementation of Dodd-Frank and other financial reform regulations is less beneficial for us or our customers, our business, financial condition and operating results could be negatively affected.
If we fail to comply with applicable laws, rules or regulations, we may be subject to censure, fines, cease-and-desist orders, suspension of our business, removal of personnel or other sanctions, including revocation of our designations as a contract market and derivatives clearing organization.
Some of our largest clearing firms have indicated their belief that clearing facilities should not be owned or controlled by exchanges and should be operated as utilities and not for profit. These clearing firms have sought, and may seek in the future, legislative or regulatory changes that would, if adopted, enable them to use alternative clearing services for positions established on our exchanges or to freely move open positions among clearing houses in order to take advantage of our liquidity. Even if they are not successful, these factors may cause them to limit the use of our markets.
Our clearing houses seek to offer customers, intermediaries and clearing firms universal access in order to maximize the efficient use of capital, exercise appropriate oversight of value at risk and maintain operating leverage from clearing activities. Our strategic business plan is to operate an efficient and transparent vertically integrated transaction execution, clearing and settlement business for our futures and options on futures business. Some of our clearing firms have expressed the view that clearing firms should control the governance of clearing houses or that clearing houses should be operated as utilities rather than as part of for-profit enterprises. Some of these firms, along with certain industry associations, have sought, and may seek in the future, legislative or regulatory changes to be adopted that would facilitate mechanisms or policies that allow market participants to transfer positions from an exchange-owned clearing house to a clearing house owned and controlled by clearing firms. If these legislative or regulatory changes are adopted, our revenues and profits could be adversely affected.

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We face intense competition from other companies, including some of our members. If we are not able to successfully compete, our business, financial condition and operating results will be materially harmed.
The industry in which we operate is highly competitive and we expect competition to continue to intensify, especially in light of the implementation of Dodd-Frank and other reforms of the financial services industry. We believe portions of Dodd-Frank and the corresponding regulations with respect to mandatory clearing and organized trading provide opportunities for our business. However, other portions of Dodd-Frank and the regulatory structure being implemented could negatively impact our business and our ability to compete effectively. We encounter competition in all aspects of our business, including from entities having substantially greater capital and resources, offering a wide range of products and services and in some cases operating under a different and possibly less stringent regulatory regime. We face competition from other futures, securities and securities option exchanges; over-the-counter markets; clearing organizations; consortia formed by our members and large industry participants; swap execution facilities; alternative trade execution facilities; technology firms, including market data distributors and electronic trading system developers, and others. Many of our competitors and potential competitors have greater financial, marketing, technological and personnel resources than we do.
Our competitors may:
respond more quickly to competitive pressures, including responses based upon their corporate governance structures, which may be more flexible and efficient than our corporate governance structure;
develop products that are preferred by our customers;
develop risk transfer products that compete with our products;
price their products and services more competitively;
develop and expand their network infrastructure and service offerings more efficiently;
utilize better, more user-friendly and more reliable technology;
take greater advantage of acquisitions, alliances and other opportunities;
more effectively market, promote and sell their products and services;
better leverage existing relationships with customers and alliance partners or exploit better recognized brand names to market and sell their services; and
exploit regulatory disparities between traditional, regulated exchanges and alternative markets that benefit from a reduced regulatory burden and lower-cost business model.
If our products, markets and services are not competitive, our business, financial condition and operating results will be materially harmed. A decline in our fees or loss of customers could lower our revenues, which would adversely affect our profitability.
Please see "Item 1 – Business – Competition" beginning on page 10 for additional information on the competitive environment and its potential impact on our business.
Our contract volume, and consequently our revenues and profits, would be adversely affected if we are unable to retain our current customers or attract new customers.
The success of our business depends, in part, on our ability to maintain and increase our contract volume. To do so, we must maintain and expand our product offerings, our customer base and our trade execution and clearing facilities. Our success also depends on our ability to offer competitive prices and services in an increasingly price-sensitive business. For example, in recent years, some of our competitors have engaged in aggressive pricing strategies, such as lowering the fees that they charge for taking liquidity and increasing liquidity payments or rebates. We cannot provide assurances that we will be able to continue to expand our product lines, that we will be able to retain our current customers or attract new customers or that we will not be required to modify our pricing structure to compete effectively. Changes in our pricing structure may result in a decrease in our profit margin. We bill a substantial portion of our clearing and transaction fees to our clearing firms. The majority of clearing and transaction fees received from clearing firms represent charges for trades executed and cleared on behalf of their customers. One firm represented 13% of our clearing and transaction fees revenue for 2015. Should a clearing firm withdraw, our experience indicates that the customer portion of the firm's trading activity would likely transfer to another clearing firm of the exchange. However, there is the possibility we would lose a portion of the customer business. Additionally, from time to time, certain customers may represent a significant portion of the open interest in our individual product lines or contracts. If we fail to maintain our contract volume; expand our product offerings or execution facilities; or lose a substantial number of our current customers, or a subset of customers representing a significant percentage of contract volume in a particular product line; or are unable to attract new customers, our business and revenues will be adversely affected. Furthermore, declines in

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contract volume due to loss of customers may negatively impact market liquidity, which could lead to further loss of contract volume.
As a financial services provider, we are subject to significant litigation risk and potential commodity and securities law liability.
Many aspects of our business involve substantial litigation risks. While we generally are protected by our rules limiting liability for system failures and certain forms of negligence and by statutory limits on private causes of actions in cases where we have not behaved in bad faith, we could be exposed to substantial liability under federal and state laws and court decisions, as well as rules and regulations promulgated and/or direct actions brought by the SEC and the CFTC. These risks include, among others, potential liability from disputes over terms of a trade, the claim that a system failure or delay caused monetary losses to a customer, that we entered into an unauthorized transaction, that we provided materially false or misleading statements in connection with a transaction or that we failed to effectively fulfill our regulatory oversight responsibilities. Dissatisfied customers frequently make claims regarding quality of trade execution, improperly settled trades, mismanagement or even fraud against their service providers. We may become subject to these claims as a result of failures or malfunctions of our systems and services we provide. We could incur significant legal expenses defending claims, even those without merit. In addition, an adverse resolution of any future lawsuit or claim against us could have a material adverse effect on our business and our reputation.
Our role in the global marketplace places us at greater risk than other public companies for a cyber-attack and other cyber security risks. Our technology, our people and those of our third-party service providers may be vulnerable to cybersecurity threats, which could result in wrongful use of our information or cause interruptions in our operations that cause us to lose customers and contract volume, and result in substantial liabilities. We also could be required to incur significant expense to protect our systems and/or investigate any alleged attack.
We regard the secure transmission of confidential information and the ability to continuously transact and clear on our electronic trading platforms as critical elements of our operations. Our technology, our people and those of our third-party service providers and our customers may be vulnerable to targeted attacks, unauthorized access, fraud, computer viruses, denial of service attacks, terrorism, firewall or encryption failures and other security problems. Criminal groups and nation-state actors have targeted the financial services industry and our role in the global marketplace places us at greater risk than other public companies for a cyber-attack and other information security threats. From time to time, we experienced cyber security events including malware infections, directed “phishing” attacks against our employees, web attacks and other information technology incidents that are typical for a financial services company of our size. Additionally, in 2013, we were the victim of a cyber intrusion. Although we maintain sophisticated systems, teams and processes to prevent such incidents, and took significant actions to address this incident, we learned that certain customer information was compromised. We incurred expenses of $16.0 million related to our response to the 2013 event. Although we maintain sophisticated systems, teams and processes to prevent, detect and recover from these events, incidents attributable to cyber-attack could result in substantial costs and liability to us and diversions of our resources, may distract the attention of management from the ongoing operation of our business and could result in regulatory penalties or the imposition of burdensome obligations by the regulators.
Additionally, our role as a leading derivatives marketplace and the operation of our CME Globex electronic trading platform may place us at greater risk for misappropriation of our intellectual property, and persons who circumvent security measures could wrongfully use or steal our information or cause interruptions or malfunctions in our operations. In the past, we have been the victim of trade secret theft by an employee.
As part of our global information security program, we employ resources to monitor and protect our environment and infrastructure against such cyber-attacks and the potential misappropriation of our intellectual property assets. However, these measures may prove insufficient depending upon the attack or threat posed, which could result in system failures and delays, loss of customers and lower contract volume, and negatively affect our competitive advantage and result in substantial costs and liabilities.
We may be at greater risk from terrorism than other companies.
We may be more likely than other companies to be a direct target of, or an indirect casualty of, attacks by terrorists or terrorist organizations. It is impossible to accurately predict the likelihood or impact of any terrorist attack on the derivatives industry generally or on our business. While we have implemented significant physical security protection measures, business continuity plans and established backup sites, in the event of an attack or a threat of an attack, these security measures and contingency plans may be inadequate to prevent significant disruptions in our business, technology or access to the infrastructure necessary to maintain our business. Such attack may result in the closure of our trading and clearing facilities or render our backup data and recovery systems inoperable. Damage to our facilities due to terrorist attacks may be significantly in excess of any amount of insurance received, or we may not be able to insure against such damage at a reasonable price or at all. The threat of terrorist attacks may also negatively affect our ability to attract and retain employees. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

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RISKS RELATING TO OUR BUSINESS
The success of our markets depends on our ability to complete development of, successfully implement and maintain the electronic trading systems that have the functionality, performance, reliability and speed required by our customers.
The success of our business depends in large part on our ability to create interactive electronic marketplaces, in a wide range of derivatives products, that have the required functionality, performance, capacity, reliability and speed to attract and retain customers. A significant portion of our overall volume is generated through electronic trading on our CME Globex electronic platform.
We must continue to enhance our electronic trading platform to remain competitive. As a result, we will continue to be subject to risks, expenses and uncertainties encountered in the rapidly evolving market for electronic transaction services. These risks include our failure or inability to:  
provide reliable and cost-effective services to our customers;
develop, in a timely manner, the required functionality to support electronic trading in our key products in a manner that is competitive with the functionality supported by other electronic markets;
maintain the competitiveness of our fee structure;
attract independent software vendors to write front-end software that will effectively access our electronic trading system and automated order routing system;
respond to technological developments or service offerings by competitors; and
generate sufficient revenue to justify the substantial capital investment we have made and will continue to make to enhance our electronic trading platform.
If we do not successfully enhance our electronic trading systems, if we are unable to develop them to include other products and markets or if they do not have the required functionality, performance, capacity, reliability and speed desired by our customers, our ability to successfully compete and our revenues and profits will be adversely affected.
Additionally, we rely on our customers' ability to have the necessary back office functionality to support our new products and our trading and clearing functionality. To the extent our customers are not prepared and/or lack the resources or infrastructure, the success of our new initiatives may be compromised.
If we experience systems failures or capacity constraints, our ability to conduct our operations and execute our business strategy could be materially harmed and we could be subjected to significant costs and liabilities.
We are heavily dependent on the capacity, reliability and security of the computer and communications systems and software supporting our operations. We receive and/or process a large portion of our trade orders through electronic means, such as through public and private communications networks. Our systems, or those of our third-party providers, may fail or operate slowly, causing one or more of the following to occur:  
unanticipated disruptions in service to our customers;
slower response times;
delays in our customers' trade execution;
failed settlement of trades;
incomplete or inaccurate accounting, recording or processing of trades;
financial losses;
security breaches;
litigation or other customer claims;
loss of customers; and
regulatory sanctions.
We cannot assure you that we will not experience systems failures from power or telecommunications failure, acts of God, war or terrorism, human error, natural disasters, fire, sabotage, hardware or software malfunctions or defects, computer viruses, acts of vandalism or similar occurrences. If any of our systems do not operate properly, are compromised or are disabled, including as a result of system failure, employee or customer error or misuse of our systems, we could suffer financial loss, liability to customers, regulatory intervention or reputational damage that could affect demand by current and potential users of our market.

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From time to time, we have experienced system errors and failures that have resulted in some customers being unable to connect to our electronic trading platform, or that resulted in erroneous reporting, such as transactions that were not authorized by any customer or reporting of filled orders as canceled. Such errors may result in CME Group being liable or in our voluntary assumption of financial liability. We cannot assure you that if we experience system errors or failures in the future that they will not have a material adverse impact on our business. Any such system failures that cause an interruption in service or decrease our responsiveness could impair our reputation, damage our brand name or have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
Our status as a CFTC registrant generally requires that our trade execution and communications systems be able to handle anticipated present and future peak contract volume. Heavy use of our computer systems during peak trading times or at times of unusual market volatility could cause our systems to operate slowly or even to fail for periods of time. We constantly monitor system loads and performance, and regularly implement system upgrades to handle estimated increases in contract volume. However, we cannot assure you that our estimates of future contract volume and order messaging traffic will be accurate or that our systems will always be able to accommodate actual contract volume and order messaging traffic without failure or degradation of performance. Increased CME Globex contract volume and order messaging traffic may result in connectivity problems or erroneous reports that may affect users of the platform. System failure or degradation could lead our customers to file formal complaints with industry regulatory organizations, to file lawsuits against us or to cease doing business with us, or could lead the CFTC or other regulators to initiate inquiries or proceedings for failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations.
We will need to continue to upgrade, expand and increase the capacity of our systems as our business grows and we execute our business strategy. Our goal is to design our systems to handle two times our peak historical transactions in our highest volume products. As volumes of transactions grow, the ability of our systems to meet this goal on an ongoing basis depends on our ability to increase our system capacity on a timely basis while maintaining system reliability. Although many of our systems are designed to accommodate additional volume and products and services without redesign or replacement, we will need to continue to make significant investments in additional hardware and software to accommodate the increases in volume of transactions and order transaction traffic and to provide processing services to third parties. If we cannot increase the capacity and capabilities of our systems to accommodate an increasing volume of transactions and to execute our business strategy, our ability to maintain or expand our businesses would be adversely affected.
We, as well as many of our customers, depend on third-party suppliers and service providers for a number of services that are important. An interruption or cessation of an important supply or service by any third party could have a material adverse effect on our business, including revenues derived from our customers' trading activity.
We depend on a number of suppliers, such as banking, clearing and settlement organizations, telephone companies, on-line service providers, data processors, and software and hardware vendors, for elements of our trading, clearing and other systems, as well as communications and networking equipment, computer hardware and software and related support and maintenance.
Many of our customers rely on third parties, such as independent software vendors, to provide them with front-end systems to access our CME Globex platform and other back office systems for their trade processing and risk management needs. While these service providers have undertaken to keep current with our enhancements and changes to our interfaces and functionality, we cannot guarantee that they will continue to make the necessary monetary and time investments to keep up with our changes.
To the extent any of our service providers or the organizations that provide services to our customers in connection with their trading activities cease to provide these services in an efficient, cost-effective manner or fail to adequately expand their services to meet our needs and the needs of our customers, we could experience decreased contract volume, lower revenues and higher costs.
Our clearing house operations expose us to substantial credit risk of our third party clearing firms and, consequently, a diminishment in their financial resources could adversely affect us.
Our clearing house operations expose us to counterparties with differing risk profiles. We routinely guarantee transactions submitted by our clearing firms with counterparties in the financial industry, including brokers and dealers, commercial banks, investment banks, mutual and hedge funds, and other institutional customers. We could be adversely impacted by the financial distress or failure of one or more of our clearing firms.
As part of our growth initiatives, we have expanded our clearing services to swaps in addition to standard futures and options on futures products. The process for setting margins and establishing other financial safeguards for cleared swaps differs from our historical practices. Although we believe that we have carefully analyzed the process for setting margins and establishing financial safeguards for cleared swaps, there is no guarantee that our procedures will adequately protect the clearing house in the event of a clearing member default during extreme market conditions.
A substantial part of our working capital may be at risk if a clearing firm defaults on its obligations to the clearing house and its margin and guaranty fund deposits are insufficient to meet its obligations. Although we have policies and procedures to help

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ensure that our clearing firms can satisfy their obligations, these policies and procedures may not succeed in detecting problems or preventing defaults. We also have in place various measures intended to enable us to cure any default and maintain liquidity. However, we cannot assure you that these measures will be sufficient to protect market participants from a default or that we will not be adversely affected in the event of a significant default. In addition, we have established a fund (currently up to $98 million) to provide payments, up to certain maximum levels, to qualified family farmers, ranchers and other agricultural industry participants who use our products and who suffer losses to their segregated account balances if their clearing firm member becomes insolvent.
The required capital and posted collateral of our clearing firms may lose value given the volatility of the market.
To become a clearing member, a firm must meet certain minimum capital requirements and must deposit collateral to meet performance bond and guaranty fund requirements. We accept a variety of collateral to satisfy these requirements, including cash, regulated money market mutual funds, U.S. Treasury securities, U.S. Government Agency securities, letters of credit, gold, equities and foreign sovereign debt, and subject them to established haircuts based on the type of collateral and maturity. There is no guarantee the collateral will maintain its value. To the extent a clearing firm is not compliant with capital, margin or guaranty fund requirements, it would be required to promptly come into compliance by adding capital or collateral, decreasing its proprietary trading activity and/or transferring customer accounts to another clearing firm. These actions could result in a decrease in trading activity in our products.
Intellectual property rights licensed from third party price reporting agencies form the basis for many of our products from which we derive a significant portion of our volume and revenue. Regulatory scrutiny into such benchmarks could have a negative impact on our ability to offer such products.
We are significantly dependent on the contract volume of products which are based on intellectual property rights of indexes derived from third-party price reporting agencies, including our benchmark Eurodollar contract, which is based on LIBOR. To comply with CFTC core principles, we must be able to demonstrate that our products may not be readily subject to manipulation. Our inability to offer products based on these indexes could have a negative impact on our contract volume and revenues.
Our market data revenues may be reduced by decreased demand, poor overall economic conditions or a significant change in how market participants trade and use market data.
We sell our market data to individuals, trading institutions and other organizations that use our information services to participate in our markets and/or monitor general economic conditions. Revenues from our market data and information services represented 12% and 11% of our total revenues during the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. A decrease in overall contract volume may lead to a decreased demand for our market data. For example, in both 2015 and 2014, we experienced a decrease in the average number of market data devices due to the continued economic uncertainty, continued high unemployment levels in the financial services sector and aggressive cost cutting initiatives at customer firms and the continued impact of legacy incentive programs tied to trading terminals. In 2014, we implemented a series of policy changes and price increases effective over 2014 and 2015. We cannot guarantee that the changes or increased cost to our customers will not result in a reduction of the total number of paid subscriptions as users review their business needs for our services.
We may have difficulty executing our growth strategy and maintaining our growth effectively.
We continue to focus on strategic initiatives to grow our business, including our efforts to serve the over-the-counter markets and to distribute our products and services on a global basis. There is no guarantee that our efforts will be successful. Continued growth will require additional investment in personnel, facilities, information technology infrastructure and financial and management systems and controls and may place a significant strain on our management and resources. For example, if we encounter limited resources, we may be required to increase our expenses to obtain the necessary resources, defer existing initiatives or not pursue certain opportunities. We may not be successful in implementing all of the processes that are necessary to support our growth organically or, as described below, through acquisitions, other investments or strategic alliances. Unless our growth results in an increase in our revenues that is proportionate to the increase in our costs associated with our growth, our future profitability could be adversely affected, and we may have to incur significant expenditures to address the additional operational and control requirements as a result of our growth.
There is no guarantee that our cleared swaps initiatives will be successful.
Our goal is to provide a comprehensive multi-asset class clearing solution to the marketplace for maximum operational ease and the capital efficiency that comes with connecting to our clearing houses. We offer clearing services for cleared swaps, including interest rate, credit default, foreign exchange and commodity swaps. Our strategy also includes extending our services into other asset classes, as well as enhancing our CME ClearPort functionality to support additional products. While we believe the implementation of Dodd-Frank creates new opportunities for us to expand our offerings, the current regulatory environment for trading and clearing these products remains uncertain. We cannot be certain that we will be able to operate profitably under the new legislation. Also, numerous capital changes and provisions in Basel III may result in uncleared,

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bilaterally executed derivatives being less expensive than cleared derivatives. In addition, a number of market participants and exchanges have developed competing platforms and products, including new swap execution facilities. We cannot be certain that we will be able to compete effectively or that our initiatives will be successful.
We intend to continue to explore acquisitions, other investments and strategic alliances. We may not be successful in identifying opportunities or in integrating the acquired businesses. Any such transaction may not produce the results we anticipate, which could adversely affect our business and our stock price.
We intend to continue to explore and pursue acquisitions and other strategic opportunities to strengthen our business and grow our company. We may make acquisitions or investments or enter into strategic partnerships, joint ventures and other alliances. The market for such transactions is highly competitive, especially in light of the increasing consolidation in our industry. As a result, we may be unable to identify strategic opportunities or we may be unable to negotiate or finance future transactions on terms favorable to us, which could impact our ability to identify growth opportunities. We may finance future transactions by issuing additional equity and/or debt. The issuance of additional equity in connection with any future transaction could be substantially dilutive to our existing shareholders. The issuance of additional debt could increase our leverage substantially. The process of integration also may produce unforeseen regulatory and operating difficulties and expenditures and may divert the attention of management from the ongoing operation of our business. To the extent we enter into joint ventures and alliances, we may experience difficulties in the development and expansion of the business of any newly formed ventures, in the exercise of influence over the activities of any ventures in which we do not have a controlling interest, as well as encounter potential conflicts with our joint venture or alliance partners. We may not realize the anticipated growth and other benefits from our growth initiatives and investments we have made or will make in the future, which may have an adverse impact on our financial condition and operating results. We also may be required to take an impairment charge in our financial statements relating to our acquisitions and/or investments, which could negatively affect our stock price.
Expansion of our global operations involves special challenges that we may not be able to meet, which could adversely affect our financial results.
We plan to continue to expand our global operations, including through CME Clearing Europe, CME Europe and our global repository services; directly placing order entry terminals with customers outside the United States; and by relying on distribution systems established by our current and future strategic alliance partners. We face certain risks inherent in doing business in international markets, particularly in the regulated derivatives exchange business. These risks include:
becoming subject to extensive regulations and oversight;
difficulties in staffing and managing foreign operations;
general economic and political conditions in the countries from which our markets are accessed, which may have an adverse effect on our volume from those countries; and
potentially adverse tax consequences.
We cannot assure you that we will be successful in marketing our products and services in international markets. We also may experience difficulty in managing our international operations because of, among other things, competitive conditions overseas, management of foreign exchange risk, established domestic markets, language and cultural differences and economic or political instability. Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on the success of our international operations and, consequently, on our business, financial condition and operating results.
Our compliance and risk management programs might not be effective and may result in outcomes that could adversely affect our reputation, financial condition and operating results.
In the normal course of our business, we discuss matters with our regulators raised during regulatory examinations, or we may otherwise become subject to their inquiry and oversight. The CFTC has broad enforcement powers to censure, fine, issue cease-and-desist orders, prohibit us from engaging in some of our businesses or suspend or revoke our designation as a contract market or the registration of any of our officers or employees who violate applicable laws or regulations. Our ability to comply with applicable laws and rules is largely dependent on our establishment and maintenance of compliance, review and reporting systems, as well as our ability to attract and retain qualified compliance and other risk management personnel. We face the risk of significant intervention by regulatory authorities, including extensive examination and surveillance activity. In the case of alleged non-compliance with applicable laws or regulations, we could be subject to investigations and judicial or administrative proceedings that may result in substantial penalties or civil lawsuits, including by customers, for damages, which could be significant. Any of these outcomes may adversely affect our reputation, financial condition and operating results. In extreme cases, these outcomes could adversely affect our ability to conduct our business. In 2013, the CFTC filed suit against NYMEX and two former employees alleging disclosure of confidential customer information in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act. Based on our review of the allegations, we believe that we have strong factual and legal defenses to the claim.

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Our policies and procedures to identify, monitor and manage our risks may not be fully effective. Some of our risk management methods depend upon evaluation of information regarding markets, customers or other matters that are publicly available or otherwise accessible by us. That information may not in all cases be accurate, complete, up-to-date or properly evaluated. Management of operational, financial, legal, regulatory and strategic risk requires, among other things, policies and procedures to record properly and verify a large number of transactions and events. We cannot assure you that our policies and procedures will always be effective or that we will always be successful in monitoring or evaluating the risks to which we are or may be exposed.
We could be harmed by misconduct or errors that are difficult to detect and deter.
There have been a number of highly publicized cases involving fraud or other misconduct by employees of financial services firms in recent years. Misconduct by our employees and agents could include hiding unauthorized activities from us, improper or unauthorized activities on behalf of customers or improper use or unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. Misconduct could subject us to financial losses or regulatory sanctions and seriously harm our reputation. It is not always possible to deter misconduct, and the precautions we take to prevent and detect this activity may not be effective in all cases. Our employees and agents also may commit errors that could subject us to financial claims for negligence, as well as regulatory actions, or result in our voluntary assumption of financial liability.
We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights, which may materially harm our business.
We own the rights to a large number of trademarks, service marks, domain names and trade names in the United States, Europe and other parts of the world. We have registered many of our most important trademarks in the United States and other countries. We hold the rights to a number of patents and have made a number of patent applications. Our patents cover match engine, trader user interface, trading floor support, market data, general technology and clearing house functionalities. We attempt to protect our intellectual property rights by relying on trademarks, copyright, database rights, trade secrets, restrictions on disclosure and other methods. Notwithstanding the precautions we take to protect our intellectual property rights, it is possible that third parties may copy or otherwise obtain and use our proprietary technology without authorization or otherwise infringe on our rights. For example, in 2012 a former employee of CME Group pled guilty to theft of our trade secrets. In addition, in the future, we may have to rely on litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets, determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others or defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Any such litigation, whether successful or unsuccessful, could result in substantial costs to us and diversions of our resources, either of which could adversely affect our business.
Any infringement by us on patent rights of others could result in litigation and adversely affect our ability to continue to provide, or increase the cost of providing, our products and services.
Patents of third parties may have an important bearing on our ability to offer certain of our products and services. Our competitors as well as other companies and individuals may obtain, and may be expected to obtain in the future, patents related to the types of products and services we offer or plan to offer. We cannot assure you that we are or will be aware of all patents containing claims that may pose a risk of infringement by our products and services. In addition, some patent applications in the United States are confidential until a patent is issued and, therefore, we cannot evaluate the extent to which our products and services may be covered or asserted to be covered by claims contained in pending patent applications. These claims of infringement are not uncommon in our industry.
In general, if one or more of our products or services were to infringe on patents held by others, we may be required to stop developing or marketing the products or services, to obtain licenses to develop and market the services from the holders of the patents or to redesign the products or services in such a way as to avoid infringing on the patent claims. We cannot assess the extent to which we may be required in the future to obtain licenses with respect to patents held by others, whether such licenses would be available or, if available, whether we would be able to obtain such licenses on commercially reasonable terms. If we were unable to obtain such licenses, we may not be able to redesign our products or services to avoid infringement, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

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RISKS RELATING TO AN INVESTMENT IN OUR CLASS A COMMON STOCK
Our indebtedness could adversely affect our financial condition and operations and prevent us from fulfilling our debt service obligations. We might still be able to incur more debt, intensifying these risks.
As of December 31, 2015, we had approximately $2.2 billion of total indebtedness and we had excess borrowing capacity for general corporate purposes under our existing facilities of approximately $2.3 billion.
Our indebtedness could have important consequences. For example, our indebtedness may:  
require us to dedicate a significant portion of our cash flow from operations to payments on our debt, thereby reducing the availability of cash flows to fund capital expenditures, to pursue acquisitions or investments, to pay dividends and for general corporate purposes;
increase our vulnerability to general adverse economic conditions;
limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in or challenges relating to our business and industry; and
place us at a competitive disadvantage against any less leveraged competitors.
The occurrence of any one of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, prospects and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations. In addition, the agreements governing our outstanding indebtedness do not significantly limit our ability to incur additional indebtedness, which could increase the risks described above to the extent that we incur additional debt. Our U.S. exchanges and clearing house also are required to maintain capital as defined by the CFTC.
Any reduction in our credit rating could increase the cost of our funding from the capital markets.
Our long-term debt is currently rated investment grade by two of the major rating agencies. These rating agencies regularly evaluate us. Their ratings of our long-term debt are based on a number of factors, including our financial strength as well as factors not entirely within our control, such as conditions affecting the financial services industry generally. In light of the difficulties in the financial services industry and the financial markets over the last few years, there can be no assurance that we will maintain our current ratings. In the past, we have experienced ratings downgrades. Our failure to maintain our ratings could adversely affect the cost and other terms upon which we are able to obtain funding, and increase our cost of capital. Additionally, if our ratings are downgraded below investment grade due to a change of control, we are required to make an offer to repurchase all of our fixed-rate notes at a price equal to 101% of the principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest.
Our operations of, and investments in, businesses outside of the United States subject us to currency risk.
Since we conduct business outside of the United States, primarily in the United Kingdom, portions of our revenues and expenses are denominated in U.S. dollars and pounds sterling.  Because our consolidated financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars, we must translate non-U.S. dollar denominated revenues, income and expenses, as well as assets and liabilities, into U.S. dollars at exchange rates in effect during or at the end of each reporting period. Therefore, increases or decreases in the value of the U.S. dollar against the other currencies may affect our operating income and the value of balance sheet items denominated in foreign currencies.

Additionally, we have invested in businesses outside of the United States, including our investment in BM&FBOVESPA which had a fair value of $199.1 million as of December 31, 2015.  A decrease in value of the currencies in the foreign jurisdictions where we have investments would decrease the value of our investments and may have a negative impact on our financial statements.
Our average rate per contract is subject to fluctuation due to a number of factors. As a result, you will not be able to rely on our average rate per contract in any particular period as an indication of our future average rate per contract.
Our average rate per contract, which impacts our operating results, is subject to fluctuation due to shifts in the mix of products traded, the trading venue and the mix of customers (whether the customer receives member or non-member fees or participates in one of our various incentive programs) and the impact of our tiered pricing structure. In addition, our members and participants in our various incentive programs generally are charged lower fees than our non-member customers. Variation in each of these factors is difficult to predict and will have an impact on our average rate per contract in the particular period. Because of this fluctuation, you may not be able to rely on our average rate per contract in any particular period as an indication of our future average rate per contract. If we fail to meet securities analysts' expectations regarding our operating results, the price of our Class A common stock could decline substantially.

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Our cost structure is largely fixed. If our revenues decline and we are unable to reduce our costs, our profitability will be adversely affected.
Our cost structure is largely fixed. We base our cost structure on historical and expected levels of demand for our products and services. If demand for our products and services and our resulting revenues decline, we may not be able to adjust our cost structure on a timely basis. In that event, our profitability would be adversely affected.
Thirteen of our board members own trading rights or are officers or directors of firms that own trading rights on our exchanges. As members, these individuals may have interests that differ from or conflict with those of shareholders who are not also members. Our dependence on the trading and clearing activities of our members, combined with the CME members' rights to elect six directors, may enable them to exert substantial influence over the operation of our business.
Thirteen of our directors own or are officers or directors of firms that own trading rights on our exchanges. We are dependent on the revenues from the trading and clearing activities of our members. In 2015, 81% of our contract volume was derived from our members. This dependence may give them substantial influence over how we operate our business.
Many of our members and clearing firms derive a substantial portion of their income from their trading or clearing activities on or through our exchanges. In addition, trading rights on our exchanges have substantial independent value. The amount of income that members derive from their trading, brokering and clearing activities and the value of their trading rights are, in part, dependent on the fees they are charged to trade, broker, clear and access our markets, and the rules and structure of our markets. As a result, members may not have the same economic interests as holders of our Class A common stock. In addition, our members may have differing interests among themselves depending on the roles they serve in our markets, their methods of trading and the products they trade. Consequently, members may advocate that we enhance and protect their clearing and trading opportunities and the value of their trading privileges over their investment in our Class A common stock, if any.
Our members have been granted special rights, which protect their trading privileges, require that we maintain open outcry trading until volumes are not significant and, in the case of our Class B shareholders, provide them with special board representation.
Under the terms of the organizational documents of our exchanges, our members have certain rights that relate primarily to trading right protections, certain trading fee protections and certain membership benefit protections. Additionally, our Class B shareholders, who are members of our CME exchange, also are entitled to elect six directors to our board even if their Class A share ownership interest is very small or non-existent. In connection with these rights, our ability to take certain actions that we may deem to be in the best interests of the company and its shareholders, including actions relating to certain pricing decisions, may be limited by the rights of our members.

ITEM 1B.    UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Not applicable. 













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ITEM 2.    PROPERTIES
Our global headquarters are located in Chicago, Illinois, at 20 South Wacker Drive. The following is a description of our key locations and facilities.
 
Location
Primary Use
Owned/Leased
Lease Expiration
Approximate Size
(in square feet)(1)

20 South Wacker Drive Chicago, Illinois
Global headquarters and office space
Leased
2022(2)
490,000

141 West Jackson
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago trading floor and office space
Leased
2027(3)
150,000

333 S. LaSalle
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago trading floor and office space
Owned
N/A
300,000

550 West Washington
Chicago, Illinois
Office space
Leased
2023
250,000

One North End
New York, New York
New York trading floor, office space and business continuity
Leased
2028(4) 
240,000

One New Change London
Office space
Leased
2026
58,000

Annex Data Center
Chicagoland area
Business continuity
Leased
2019
100,000

Data Center 3
Chicagoland area
Business continuity and co-location
Owned
N/A
430,000


(1)
Size represents the amount of space leased or owned by us unless otherwise noted.
(2)
The initial lease expires in 2022 with two consecutive options to extend the term for seven and ten years, respectively.
(3)
The initial lease expires in 2027 and contains options to extend the term and expand the premises.
(4)
The initial lease expires in 2028 and contains options to extend the term and expand the premises. In 2019, the premises will be reduced to 225,000 square feet.
We also lease other office space around the world and have also partnered with major global telecommunications carriers in connection with our telecommunications hubs whereby we place data cabinets within the carriers’ existing secured data centers. We believe our facilities are adequate for our current operations and that additional space can be obtained if needed.
 
ITEM 3.
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
See “Legal and Regulatory Matters” in Note 13. Contingencies to the Consolidated Financial Statements beginning on page 77 for CME Group’s legal proceedings disclosure which is incorporated herein by reference.
ITEM 4.
MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
PART II
 
ITEM 5.
MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Class A Common Stock
Our Class A common stock is currently listed on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “CME.” As of February 10, 2016, there were approximately 2,860 holders of record of our Class A common stock.

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The following table sets forth the high and low sales prices per share of our Class A common stock on a quarterly basis, as reported on NASDAQ.
2015
 
High
 
Low
 
2014
 
High
 
Low
First Quarter
 
$
95.49

 
$
80.57

 
First Quarter
 
$
79.20

 
$
72.34

Second Quarter
 
94.84

 
84.80

 
Second Quarter
 
72.66

 
66.95

Third Quarter
 
95.78

 
85.13

 
Third Quarter
 
82.96

 
70.13

Fourth Quarter
 
96.13

 
84.22

 
Fourth Quarter
 
92.91

 
78.26

Class B Common Stock
Our Class B common stock is not listed on a national securities exchange or traded in an organized over-the-counter market. Each class of our Class B common stock is associated with a membership in a specific division of our CME exchange. CME's rules provide exchange members with trading rights and the ability to use or lease these trading rights. Each share of our Class B common stock can be transferred only in connection with the transfer of the associated trading rights.
Class B shares and the associated trading rights are bought and sold or leased through our membership department. Although our Class B shareholders have special voting rights, because our Class B shares have the same equitable interest in our earnings and the same dividend payments as our Class A shares, we expect that the market price of our Class B common stock, if reported separately from the associated trading rights, would be primarily determined by the value of our Class A common stock. As of February 10, 2016, there were approximately 1,600 holders of record of our Class B common stock.
Dividends
The following table sets forth the dividends we paid on our Class A and Class B common stock in the last two years:
Record Date
 
Dividend per Share
 
Record Date
 
Dividend per Share
March 10, 2015
 
$
0.50

 
March 10, 2014
 
$
0.47

June 10, 2015
 
0.50

 
June 10, 2014
 
0.47

September 10, 2015
 
0.50

 
September 10, 2014
 
0.47

December 10, 2015
 
0.50

 
December 10, 2014
 
0.47

December 28, 2015
 
2.90

 
December 29, 2014
 
2.00

We intend to continue to pay a regular quarterly dividend to our shareholders according to our annual dividend policy, which is set at between 50% and 60% of the prior year's cash earnings. The decision to declare a dividend and the amount of the dividend, however, remains within the discretion of our board of directors and may be affected by various factors, including our future earnings, financial condition, capital requirements, levels of indebtedness and other considerations our board of directors deems relevant. On February 3, 2016, the board of directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.60 per share. The dividend will be payable on March 28, 2016, to shareholders of record on March 10, 2016. Assuming no changes in the number of shares outstanding, the total first quarter dividend payment will be approximately $202.0 million. The board of directors also declared an additional, annual variable dividend of $2.90 per share on December 9, 2015, paid on January 12, 2016, to the shareholders of record on December 28, 2015. In general, the amount of the annual variable dividend will be determined at the end of each year, and the level will increase or decrease from year to year based on operating results, potential merger and acquisition activity, and other forms of capital return including regular dividends and share buybacks during the prior year.
The indentures governing our fixed rate notes, our 364-day clearing house credit facility for $7.0 billion and our $2.3 billion multi-currency revolving senior credit facility do not contain specific covenants that restrict the ability to pay dividends. These documents, however, do contain other customary financial and operating covenants that place restrictions on the operations of the company, which could indirectly affect the ability to pay dividends.
For example, under our senior credit facility, we are required to remain in compliance with a consolidated net worth test, defined as our consolidated shareholders’ equity as of December 31, 2014 after giving effect to actual share repurchases made and special dividends paid (including annual variable dividends), but only up to the amount of such repurchases and dividends publicly announced and made or paid after December 31, 2014 (and in no event greater than $2.0 billion in the aggregate for such repurchases and dividends during the term of the agreement), multiplied by 0.65. In addition, our 364-day clearing house credit facility contains a requirement that CME remain in compliance with a consolidated tangible net worth test, defined as consolidated shareholder’s equity less intangible assets (as defined in the agreement), of not less than $800.0 million.
CME Group, as a holding company, has no operations of its own. Instead, it relies on dividends declared and paid to it by its subsidiaries, including CME, in order to provide a portion of the funds which it uses to pay dividends to its shareholders.

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CME Group and its subsidiaries are also required to comply with restrictions contained in the general corporation laws of their state of incorporation which could also limit its (or their) ability to declare and pay dividends.
PERFORMANCE GRAPH
The following graph and table compares the cumulative five-year total return provided to shareholders on our Class A common stock relative to the cumulative total returns of the S&P 500 index and our customized peer group. The peer group includes CBOE Holdings, Inc., IntercontinentalExchange Group, Inc. and Nasdaq, Inc. An investment of $100 (with reinvestment of all dividends) is assumed to have been made in our Class A common stock, in the peer group and the S&P 500 index on December 31, 2010, and its relative performance is tracked through December 31, 2015.
The stock price performance included in this graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.
 
 
2011
 
2012
 
2013
 
2014
 
2015
CME Group Inc.
$
77.32

 
$
86.07

 
$
141.17

 
$
167.02

 
$
179.84

S&P 500
102.11

 
118.45

 
156.82

 
178.29

 
180.75

Peer Group
102.98

 
108.59

 
191.79

 
203.60

 
238.90


Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities

During the past three years there have not been any unregistered sales by the company of equity securities.

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Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Period
 
(a) Total Number
of Shares (or Units)
Purchased(1)
 
(b) Average Price
Paid Per Share (or Unit)
 
(c) Total Number of
Shares (or Units) Purchased as
Part of Publicly
Announced
Plans or Programs
 
(d) Maximum Number (or Approximate Dollar Value)
of Shares (or Units) that May Yet Be Purchased Under
the Plans or Programs (in millions)
October 1 to October 31
 
1,279

 
$
93.78

 

 
$

November 1 to November 30
 
29

 
97.18

 

 

December 1 to December 31
 
772

 
95.31

 

 

Total
 
2,080

 
 
 

 
 
 _______________
(1)
Shares purchased consist of an aggregate of 2,080 shares of Class A common stock surrendered to satisfy employee tax obligations upon the vesting of restricted stock.
ITEM 6.
SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
On March 18, 2010, the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. (CBOT) acquired a 90% ownership interest in CME Group Index Services LLC (Index Services), a business venture with Dow Jones & Company (Dow Jones). In June 2012, the company contributed certain Dow Jones Index assets and liabilities (DJI asset group) owned by Index Services to S&P/Dow Jones Indices LLC (S&P/DJI), a new business venture with The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. (McGraw), and acquired a 24.4% interest in S&P/DJI. As part of the transaction with McGraw, the company also sold Credit Market Analysis Ltd. (CMA) to McGraw. CBOT acquired The Board of Trade of Kansas City, Missouri, Inc. (KCBT), on November 30, 2012. In April 2013, the company acquired the remaining 10% non-controlling interest in Index Services. As a result of the purchase of the non-controlling interest, the company's interest in S&P/DJI increased to 27%.
The following data includes the financial results of CMA through June 30, 2012 and the financial results of KCBT beginning November 30, 2012. Assets and liabilities contributed or sold as part of the transaction with McGraw are excluded from the following data beginning on June 30, 2012, while the financial results of the company's 24.4% interest in S&P/DJI are included in the following data beginning on June 30, 2012. The financial results of the company's increased ownership interest in S&P/DJI to 27% interest are included as of April 2013.
 
 
Year Ended or At December 31
(in millions, except per share data)
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2012
 
2011
Income Statement Data:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Total revenues
 
$
3,326.8

 
$
3,112.5

 
$
2,936.3

 
$
2,914.6

 
$
3,280.6

Operating income
 
1,988.7

 
1,768.4

 
1,637.0

 
1,692.0

 
2,021.1

Non-operating income (expense)
 
(31.9
)
 
3.0

 
(36.0
)
 
1.4

 
(84.6
)
Income before income taxes
 
1,956.8

 
1,771.4

 
1,601.0

 
1,693.4

 
1,936.5

Net income attributable to CME Group
 
1,247.0

 
1,127.1

 
976.8

 
896.3

 
1,812.3

Earnings per common share attributable to CME Group:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Basic
 
$
3.71

 
$
3.37

 
$
2.94

 
$
2.71

 
$
5.45

Diluted
 
3.69

 
3.35

 
2.92

 
2.70

 
5.43

Cash dividends per share
 
4.90

 
3.88

 
4.40

 
3.70

 
1.12

Balance Sheet Data:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Total assets
 
$
67,371.5

 
$
72,241.5

 
$
54,277.8

 
$
38,863.2

 
$
40,758.7

Short-term debt
 

 

 
749.9

 
749.7

 

Long-term debt
 
2,241.4

 
2,107.9

 
2,107.2

 
2,106.8

 
2,106.8

CME Group Shareholders’ equity
 
20,551.8

 
20,923.5

 
21,154.8

 
21,419.1

 
21,552.0


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The following table presents key statistical information on the volume of contracts traded, expressed in round turn trades, and notional value of contracts traded. Average daily volume for KCBT products is included in volume data beginning January 1, 2013. All amounts exclude our credit default swaps and interest rate swaps contracts. 
 
 
Year Ended or At December 31
(in thousands, except notional value)
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2012
 
2011
Average Daily Volume:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Product Lines:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Interest rate
 
6,720

 
7,009

 
5,903

 
4,834

 
6,030

Equity
 
2,792

 
2,764

 
2,642

 
2,560

 
3,238

Foreign exchange
 
872

 
803

 
886

 
845

 
922

Agricultural commodity
 
1,265

 
1,120

 
1,053

 
1,140

 
1,087

Energy
 
1,970

 
1,630

 
1,676

 
1,692

 
1,775

Metal
 
344

 
337

 
386

 
352

 
387

Total Average Daily Volume
 
13,963

 
13,663

 
12,546

 
11,423

 
13,439

Method of Trade:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Electronic
 
12,185

 
11,805

 
10,826

 
9,739

 
11,350

Open outcry
 
1,139

 
1,176

 
1,040

 
1,045

 
1,398

Privately negotiated
 
639

 
682

 
680

 
639

 
691

Total Average Daily Volume
 
13,963

 
13,663

 
12,546

 
11,423

 
13,439

Other Data:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Total Notional Value (in trillions)
 
1,167

 
1,161

 
925

 
806

 
1,068

Total Contract Volume (round turn trades)
 
3,532,521

 
3,443,051

 
3,161,477

 
2,890,036

 
3,386,716

Open Interest at Year End (contracts)
 
91,369

 
93,644

 
83,726

 
69,894

 
78,318





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ITEM 7.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
INTRODUCTION
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations is organized as follows:
Executive Summary: Includes an overview of our business; current economic, competitive and regulatory trends relevant to our business; our current business strategy and our primary sources of operating and non-operating revenues and expenses.
Critical Accounting Policies: Provides an explanation of accounting policies which may have a significant impact on our financial results and the estimates, assumptions and risks associated with those policies.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements: Includes an evaluation of recent accounting pronouncements and the potential impact of their future adoption on our financial results.
Results of Operations: Includes an analysis of our 2015, 2014 and 2013 financial results and a discussion of any known events or trends which are likely to impact future results.
Liquidity and Capital Resources: Includes a discussion of our future cash requirements, capital resources, significant planned expenditures and financing arrangements.
References in this discussion and analysis to “we” and “our” are to CME Group Inc. (CME Group) and its consolidated subsidiaries, collectively. References to “exchange” are to Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME), the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. (CBOT), New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. (NYMEX), Commodity Exchange, Inc. (COMEX), CME Clearing Europe Limited (CMECE) and CME Europe Limited (CME Europe), collectively, unless otherwise noted.
OVERVIEW
Business Overview
CME Group, a Delaware stock corporation, is the holding company for CME, CBOT, NYMEX, COMEX and their respective subsidiaries as well as CMECE and CME Europe. The holding company structure is designed to provide strategic and operational flexibility. CME Group's Class A common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market (NASDAQ) under the ticker symbol “CME.”
Our exchange consists of designated contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts. We also clear futures, options on futures and swaps contracts through our two clearing houses: CME Clearing, which is a division of CME, and CMECE. Futures contracts, options on futures contracts and swaps contracts provide investors with vehicles for protecting against, and potentially profiting from, price changes in financial instruments and physical commodities.
We are a global exchange with customer access available virtually all over the world. Our customers consist of professional traders, financial institutions, individual and institutional investors, major corporations, manufacturers, producers and governments. Customers include both members of the exchange and non-members.
We offer our customers the opportunity to trade futures contracts and options on futures contracts on a range of products including those based on interest rates, equities, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy and metals. We also clear swaps contracts on a range of products including those based on interest rates, credit default, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy and metals.
Our products provide a means for hedging, speculating and allocating assets. We identify new products by monitoring economic trends and their impact on the risk management and speculative needs of our existing and prospective customers.
Most of our products are available for trading through our electronic trading platform and our open outcry trading floors. These execution facilities offer our customers immediate trade execution and price transparency. In addition, trades can be executed through privately negotiated transactions that are cleared and settled through our CME and CMECE clearing houses.
Our clearing houses clear, settle and guarantee futures and options contracts traded through our exchange, in addition to cleared swaps products. Our clearing houses' performance guarantee is an important function of our business. Because of this guarantee, our customers do not need to evaluate the credit of each potential counterparty or limit themselves to a selected set of counterparties. This flexibility increases the potential liquidity available for each trade. Additionally, the substitution of our clearing houses as the counterparty to every transaction allows our customers to establish a position with one party and offset the position with another party. This contract offsetting process provides our customers with flexibility in establishing and adjusting positions and provides for collateral and margining efficiencies.
In addition, CME serves as a swap execution facility, which is a regulated platform for swap trading, and serves as a swap data repository, which provides public data on swap transactions and stores confidential swap data for regulatory purposes.

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Business Trends
Economic Environment. Our customers continue to use our markets as an effective and transparent means to manage risk and meet their investment needs despite economic uncertainty and volatility. Trading activity in our centralized markets has fluctuated due to the ongoing uncertainty in the financial markets caused by the United States and European credit crises, fluctuations in the availability of credit, variations in the amount of assets under management as well as the Federal Reserve Bank’s recent zero interest rate policy and quantitative easing. Trading activity in our energy and agricultural product lines have fluctuated due to ongoing price volatility within those markets. We continue to maintain high quality and diverse products as well as various clearing and market data services which support our customers in any economic environment.
Competitive Environment. Our industry is competitive and we continue to encounter competition in all aspects of our business. We expect competition to continue to intensify, especially in light of recent regulatory reforms in the financial services industry. Competition is influenced by our reputation, the efficiency and security of our services, depth and liquidity of our markets, breadth of product offerings including rate and quality of new product development, our ability to position and expand upon existing products, transparency, reliability and anonymity of transaction processing, the regulatory environment, efficient and innovative technology and connectivity as well as transaction costs. We believe we are very well situated with respect to these factors. We now face competition from other futures, securities and securities option exchanges; over-the-counter markets; clearing organizations; swap execution facilities; alternative trade execution facilities; technology firms, including market data distributors and electronic trading system developers, and others. As markets continue to evolve, we will continue to adapt our trading technology and clearing services to meet the needs of our customers.
Regulatory Environment. Exchange-traded derivatives have historically been subject to extensive regulation. As a result of the widespread difficulties across the economy over recent years, various domestic and foreign governments have undertaken reviews of the existing legal framework governing financial markets and have either passed new laws and regulations or are in the process of enacting new laws and regulations that will apply to our business. Compliance with regulations may require us and our customers to dedicate significant financial and operational resources which could adversely affect our profitability.
Our U.S. futures exchanges and our clearing house are subject to extensive regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which carries out the regulation of the futures markets in accordance with the provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank). Over the last five years, a number of regulations to implement Dodd-Frank were finalized. While we believe that the new regulations will provide opportunities for our business, the new regulations remain subject to additional rulemaking by various regulators. Our U.S. clearing house has been designated by the CFTC as a systemically important derivatives clearing organization, which imposes various new procedural and substantive requirements. Our U.S. swap data repository service and swap execution facility are also subject to the requirements of the Commodity Exchange Act and the regulations of the CFTC. We have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant additional costs to comply with the provisions of Dodd-Frank and any new regulations.
As a global company with operations and locations around the world, we are also subject to laws and regulations in foreign locations where we do business. The financial services industry in Europe has recently undergone regulatory reform and a re-organization of its regulatory framework. Our European operations are now overseen by several regulators, including the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the European Securities Market Authority (ESMA). We have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant additional costs to comply with the new regulations in Europe.
Business Strategy
Our strategy focuses on leveraging our benchmark products, enhancing our customer relations, expanding our customer base, advancing our clearing and trading technologies and deriving benefits from our integrated clearing houses as well as our scalable infrastructure. We focus specifically on opportunities created by increased market awareness and acceptance of derivatives, increased price volatility, technological advances and the increasing need for counterparty risk mitigation and clearing services. This strategy allows us to continue to develop into a more broadly diversified financial exchange that provides trading and clearing solutions across a wide range of products and asset classes. We believe that we can build on our competitive strengths by executing on the following initiatives:
Lead core business innovation and expand product offerings by continuing to enhance our customer relations to allow us to further cross-sell our products, expand on the strength of our existing benchmark products, launch new products and deepen open interest in our core futures offerings;
Globalize our company and business by expanding and diversifying our customer base worldwide, offering customers around the world the most broadly diversified portfolio of benchmark products and increasing our presence in major international financial centers. We have also extended our European presence through CMECE and CME Europe as well as our Asian presence;

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Expand our customer base and enhance our customer participation in our market by targeting cross asset sales, driving international sales and generating new client participation across the world;
Extend our risk management and post trade offerings and solutions by providing a comprehensive multi-asset class clearing solution to the market for maximum operational ease. Our cleared swaps offerings provide participants the extensive counterparty credit risk reduction and transparency of our clearing services while preserving the prevailing execution processes, technology platforms and business structures currently in use in the marketplace; and
Establish ourselves as the leading exchange company provider of information products and index services and enhance our intellectual property portfolio. Our business venture with McGraw positions us well to serve global institutional and retail customers and allows us to continue to be innovative with product development and co-branding across asset classes.
Revenues
Clearing and transaction fees. A majority of our revenue is derived from clearing and transaction fees, which include electronic trading fees, surcharges for privately negotiated transactions and other volume-related charges for exchange-traded and cleared swaps contracts. Because clearing and transaction fees are assessed on a per-contract or notional value basis, revenues and profitability fluctuate with changes in contract volume. In addition to the business trends noted earlier, our contract volume, and consequently our revenues, tend to increase during periods of economic and geopolitical uncertainty as our customers seek to manage their exposure to, or speculate on, the market volatility resulting from that uncertainty.
While volume has the most significant impact on our clearing and transaction fees revenue, there are four other factors that also influence this source of revenues:
rate structure;
product mix;
venue, and
the percentage of trades executed by customers who are members compared with non-member customers.
Rate structure. Customers benefit from volume discounts and limits on fees as part of our effort to increase liquidity in certain products. We offer various incentive programs to promote trading and clearing in various products and geographic locations. We may periodically change fees, volume discounts, fee limits and member discounts, perhaps significantly, based on our review of operations and the business environment.
Product mix. We offer exchange-traded futures and options on futures contracts as well as cleared-only swap contracts on a wide-ranging set of products based on interest rates, credit default, equities, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy and metals. Rates are varied by product in order to optimize revenue on existing products and to encourage contract volume upon introduction of new products.
Venue. Our exchange is an international marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers mainly through our electronic trading as well as through open outcry trading and privately negotiated transactions. Any customer who is guaranteed by a clearing firm and who agrees to be bound by our exchange rules is able to obtain direct access to our electronic platforms. Open outcry trading is conducted exclusively by our members, who may execute trades on behalf of customers or for themselves.
Typically, customers submitting trades through our electronic platforms are charged fees for using the platforms in addition to the fees assessed on all transactions executed on our exchange. Customers entering into privately negotiated transactions also incur additional charges beyond the fees assessed on other transactions. Privately negotiated transactions include block trades, which are large transactions that are executed between selected parties off the public auction market on CME Globex or the trading floor. Privately negotiated transactions also include volume submitted through CME ClearPort and Exchange for Related Positions (EFRPs).
Member/non-member mix. Generally, member customers are charged lower fees than our non-member customers. Holding all other factors constant, revenue decreases if the percentage of trades executed by members increases, and increases if the percentage of non-member trades increases.
Other sources. Revenue is also derived from other sources including market data and information services, access and communication fees and various services related to our exchange and building operations.
Market data and information services. We receive market data and information services revenue from the dissemination of our market data to subscribers. Subscribers can obtain access to our market data services either directly or through third-party distributors.

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Our service offerings include access to real-time, delayed and end-of-day quotations, trade and summary market data for our products and other data sources. Users of our basic service receive real-time quotes and pay a flat monthly fee for each screen, or device, displaying our market data. Alternatively, customers can subscribe to market data provided on a limited group of products. The fee for this service is also a flat rate per month.
Pricing for our market data services is based on the value of the service provided, our cost structure for the service and the price of comparable services offered by our competitors. Increases or decreases in our market data and information services revenue are influenced by changes in our price structure for existing market data offerings, introduction of new market data services and changes in the number of devices in use. General economic factors that affect the financial services industry, which constitutes our primary customer base, also influence revenue from our market data services.
Access and communication fees. Access and communication fees are charges to members and clearing firms that utilize our various telecommunications networks and communications services. Our communication services include our co-location program as well as the connectivity charges to customers of the CME Globex platform. Access fee revenue varies depending on the type of connection provided to customers.
Other revenues. Other revenues include fees for administrating our Interest Earning Facility (IEF) program, trade order routing through agreements from various strategic relationships and other services to members and clearing firms. We offer clearing firms the opportunity to invest cash performance bonds in our various IEF offerings. These clearing firms receive interest income, and we receive a fee based on total funds on deposit.
To further diversify the range of services we offer, we have entered into processing and development agreements with other exchanges and service organizations. For example, we have an agreement with BM&FBOVESPA S.A (BM&FBOVESPA) where we have developed a new multi-asset class electronic trading platform for their customers. We recognized revenue under this agreement as services were provided and when developed technology was delivered.
In addition, other revenues include trading gains and losses generated by GFX Corporation (GFX), our wholly-owned subsidiary that trades futures contracts in a fully hedged book to enhance liquidity in our electronic markets for certain products.
Expenses
The majority of our expenses do not vary directly with changes in our contract volume. However, licensing and other fee agreements can vary directly with certain equity, energy and swap volumes as well as the majority of our employee bonuses vary directly with overall contract volume.
Compensation and benefits. Compensation and benefits expense is our most significant expense and includes employee wages, bonuses, stock-based compensation, benefits and employer taxes. Changes in this expense are driven by fluctuations in the number of employees, increases in wages as a result of inflation or labor market conditions, changes in rates for employer taxes and other cost increases affecting benefit plans. In addition, this expense is affected by the composition of our work force. The expense associated with our bonus and stock-based compensation plans can also have a significant impact on this expense category.
The bonus component of our compensation and benefits expense is based on our financial performance. Under the performance criteria of our annual incentive plans, the bonus funded under the plans is based on achieving certain financial performance targets established by the compensation committee of our board of directors. The compensation committee has discretion to make equitable adjustments to the cash earnings performance calculation to reflect effects of unplanned operating results or capital expenditures to meet intermediate- to long-term growth opportunities.
Stock-based compensation is a non-cash expense related to stock options, restricted stock and performance share grants. Stock-based compensation varies depending on the quantity and fair value of awards granted. The fair value of restricted stock awards and other performance share grants is based on either the share price on the date of the grant or a model of expected future stock prices. The fair value of options is derived using the Black-Scholes model with assumptions about our dividend yield, the expected volatility of our stock price based on an analysis of implied and historical volatility, the risk-free interest rate and the expected life of the options granted.
Professional fees and outside services. This expense includes fees for consulting services received on strategic and technology initiatives, temporary labor as well as legal and accounting fees. This expense may fluctuate as a result of changes in services required to complete initiatives and legal proceedings.
Depreciation and amortization. Depreciation and amortization expense results from the depreciation of long-lived assets such as buildings, leasehold improvements, furniture, fixtures and equipment. This expense also includes the amortization of purchased and internally developed software.

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Other expenses. We incur amortization of intangible assets and additional ongoing expenses for communications, technology support services and various other activities necessary to support our operations.
Communications expense includes costs for network connections for our electronic platforms and some market data customers; telecommunications costs of our exchange, and fees paid for access to external market data. This expense may be impacted by growth in electronic contract volume, our capacity requirements and changes in the number of telecommunications hubs and connections which allow customers outside the United States to access our electronic platforms directly.
Technology support services expense consists of costs related to maintenance of the hardware and software required to support our technology. Our technology support services costs are driven by system capacity, functionality and redundancy requirements.
Amortization of purchased intangibles includes amortization of intangible assets obtained in our mergers with CBOT Holdings, Inc. and NYMEX Holdings, Inc. as well as other asset and business acquisitions. Intangible assets subject to amortization consist primarily of clearing firm, market data and other customer relationships.
Occupancy and building operations expense consists of costs related to leased and owned property including rent, maintenance, real estate taxes, utilities and other related costs. We have significant operations located in Chicago, New York, and the United Kingdom as well as other smaller offices located throughout the world.
Licensing and other fee agreements expense includes license fees paid as a result of contract volume in equity index products. This expense also includes royalty fees and broker rebates on energy and metals products as well as revenue sharing on cleared swaps contracts and some new product launches. This expense fluctuates with changes in contract volumes as well as changes in fee structures.
Other expenses include marketing and travel-related expenses as well as general and administrative costs. Marketing, advertising and public relations expense includes media, print and other advertising costs, as well as costs associated with our product promotion. Other expenses also include litigation and customer settlements, impairment charges on operating assets, gains and losses on disposals of operating assets, contingent consideration and foreign currency transaction gains and losses resulting from changes in exchange rates on certain foreign deposits.
Non-Operating Income and Expenses
Income and expenses incurred through activities outside of our core operations are considered non-operating. These activities include non-core investing and financing activities.
Investment income includes dividend income from our strategic equity investments; gains and losses on trading securities in our non-qualified deferred compensation plans; short-term investment of clearing firms' cash performance bonds and guaranty fund contributions as well as excess operating cash and interest income and realized gains and losses from our marketable securities. Investment income is influenced by the amount of dividends distributed by our strategic investments, the availability of funds generated by operations, market interest rates and changes in the levels of cash performance bonds deposited by clearing firms.
Interest and other borrowing costs include charges associated with various short-term and long-term funding facilities, including commitment fees on line of credit agreements.
Equity in net earnings (losses) of unconsolidated subsidiaries includes income and losses from our investments in S&P/DJI, Dubai Mercantile Exchange and Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad.
Other income (expense) includes other various income and expenses outside our core operations.
CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The notes to our consolidated financial statements include disclosure of our significant accounting policies. In establishing these policies within the framework of accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, management must make certain assessments, estimates and choices that will result in the application of these principles in a manner that appropriately reflects our financial condition and results of operations. Critical accounting policies are those policies that we believe present the most complex or subjective measurements and have the most potential to affect our financial position and operating results. While all decisions regarding accounting price policies are important, there are certain accounting policies that we consider to be critical. These critical policies, which are presented in detail in the notes to our consolidated financial statements, relate to the valuation of financial instruments, goodwill and intangible assets, revenue recognition, income taxes and internal use software costs.
Valuation of financial instruments. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date, or an exit price. We have categorized

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financial instruments measured at fair value into the following three-level fair value hierarchy based upon the level of judgment associated with the inputs used to measure the fair value:
Level 1—Inputs are unadjusted, quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities at the measurement date. Assets and liabilities carried at level 1 fair value generally include U.S. Treasury securities and investments in publicly-traded mutual funds with quoted market prices.
Level 2—Inputs are either directly or indirectly observable and corroborated by market data or are based on quoted prices in markets that are not active. Assets and liabilities carried at level 2 fair value generally include asset-backed securities and certain derivatives.
Level 3—Inputs are unobservable and reflect management’s best estimate of what market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. Assets and liabilities carried at level 3 fair value generally include assets and liabilities with inputs that require management’s judgment.
For further discussion regarding the fair value of financial assets and liabilities, see note 19 in the notes to the consolidated financial statements.
Goodwill and intangible assets. We review goodwill for impairment on an annual basis and whenever events or circumstances indicate that its carrying value may not be recoverable. Goodwill may be tested quantitatively for impairment by comparing the carrying value of a reporting unit to its estimated fair value. Estimating the fair value of a reporting unit involves the use of valuation techniques that rely on significant estimates and assumptions. These estimates and assumptions may include forecasted revenue growth rates; forecasted operating margins; risk-adjusted discount rates; forecasted economic and market conditions, and industry multiples. We base our fair value estimates on assumptions we believe to be reasonable given the information that is available to us at the time of our assessment; however, actual future results may differ significantly from those estimates. Under certain favorable circumstances, goodwill may be reviewed qualitatively for indications of impairment without utilizing valuation techniques to estimate fair value. The qualitative assessment of goodwill may rely on significant assumptions about forecasts of revenue growth, operating margins and economic conditions as well as overall market and industry-specific trends.
We also review indefinite-lived intangible assets on an annual basis or more frequently when events and circumstances indicate that their carrying values may not be recoverable. Indefinite-lived intangible assets may be tested quantitatively for impairment by comparing their carrying values to their estimated fair values. Estimating the fair value of indefinite-lived intangible assets involves the use of valuation techniques that rely on significant estimates and assumptions. These estimates and assumptions may include forecasted revenue growth rates, forecasted allocations of expense and risk-adjusted discount rates. We base our fair value estimates on assumptions we believe to be reasonable given the information that is available to us at the time of our assessment; however, actual future results may differ significantly from those estimates. Similar to goodwill, under certain favorable circumstances, indefinite-lived intangible assets may be reviewed qualitatively for indications of impairment without utilizing valuation techniques to estimate fair value. The qualitative assessment of indefinite-lived intangibles assets may rely on significant assumptions about forecasts of revenue growth, operating margins and economic conditions as well as overall market and industry-specific trends.
Intangible assets subject to amortization are also assessed for impairment when indicated by a change in economic or operational circumstances. The impairment assessment of these assets requires management to first compare the book value of the amortizing asset to undiscounted cash flows. If the book value exceeds the undiscounted cash flows, management is then required to estimate the fair value of the assets and record an impairment loss for the excess of the carrying value over the fair value.
Revenue recognition. A significant portion of our revenue is derived from the clearing and transaction fees we assess on each contract executed through our trading venues and cleared through our clearing houses. Clearing and transaction fees are recognized as revenue when a buy and sell order are matched and when the trade is cleared. On occasion, the customer's exchange trading privileges may not be properly entered by the clearing firm and incorrect fees are charged for the transactions in the affected accounts. When this information is corrected within the time period allowed by the exchange, a fee adjustment is provided to the clearing firm. An accrual is established for estimated fee adjustments to reflect corrections to customer exchange trading privileges. The accrual is based on the historical pattern of adjustments processed as well as specific adjustment requests.
Income taxes. Calculation of the income tax provision includes an estimate of the income taxes that will be paid for the current year as well as an estimate of income tax liabilities or benefits deferred into future years. Deferred tax assets are reviewed to determine if they will be realized in future periods. To the extent it is determined that some deferred tax assets may not be fully realized, the assets are reduced to their realizable value by a valuation allowance. The calculation of our tax provision involves uncertainty in the application of complex tax regulations. We recognize potential liabilities for anticipated tax audit issues in the United States and other applicable foreign tax jurisdictions using a more-likely-than-not recognition threshold based on the

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technical merits of the tax position taken or expected to be taken. If payment of these amounts varies from our estimate, our income tax provision would be reduced or increased at the time that determination is made. This determination may not be known for several years. Past tax audits have not resulted in tax adjustments that would result in a material change to the income tax provision in the year the audit was completed. The effective tax rate, defined as the income tax provision as a percentage of income before income taxes, will vary from year to year based on changes in tax jurisdictions, tax rates and regulations. In addition, the effective tax rate will vary with changes to income that are not subject to income tax and changes in expenses or losses that are not deductible, such as the utilization of foreign net operating losses.
Internal use software costs. Certain internal and external costs that are incurred in connection with developing or obtaining computer software for internal use are capitalized. Software development costs incurred during the planning or maintenance stages of a software project are expensed as incurred, while costs incurred during the application development stage are capitalized and are amortized over the estimated useful life of the software, generally three years. Amortization of capitalized costs begins only when the software becomes ready for its intended use.
RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS
In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a new standard on revenue recognition that replaces numerous, industry-specific requirements and converges U.S. accounting with International Financial Reporting Standards. The new standard introduces a framework for recognizing revenue that focuses on the transfer of control rather than risks and rewards. The new standard also requires significant additional disclosures about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from customer contracts, including significant judgments, changes in judgments and assets recognized from costs incurred to obtain or fulfill a contract. The new standard was intended to become effective in the first annual period beginning after December 15, 2016, but in August 2015, FASB extended the deadline by one year. This guidance may be adopted using one of two transition methods, which we are still evaluating along with the impact of the new standard on our consolidated financial statements.
In April 2015, the FASB issued a standards update that changes the presentation of debt issuance costs. The update requires entities to present debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability as a deduction from the carrying value of the debt liability. The update, which applies retrospectively upon adoption, is effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2015. Early adoption is allowed. Adoption of the update will change the presentation of debt issuance costs and the carrying value of debt in our consolidated balance sheets. Adoption of the update is considered a change in accounting policy and will be disclosed accordingly. We believe the change in presentation will be immaterial to our consolidated financial statements.
In November 2015, the FASB issued a standards update that simplifies the classification of deferred tax assets and liabilities. The update eliminates the current requirement for entities to present deferred tax liabilities and assets as current and non-current in a classified balance sheet. Instead, entities will now be required to classify all deferred tax assets, along with valuation allowances and deferred tax liabilities as non-current. Entities are still required to offset deferred tax assets and liabilities for each taxpaying component within a tax jurisdiction. The new guidance is effective for financial statements issued for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, but earlier adoption is permitted as of the beginning of an interim or annual reporting period. The update may be adopted on either a prospective or retrospective basis.  We are in the process of evaluating the impact of this new guidance on our consolidated financial statements.
In January 2016, the FASB issued a standards update that will change how entities measure certain equity investments. It does not change the guidance for classifying and measuring investments in debt securities and loans. Under the new guidance, entities will have to measure many equity investments at fair value and recognize any changes in fair value in net income, unless the investments qualify for a practicability exception. Entities will no longer be able to recognize unrealized holding gains and losses on equity securities classified today as available for sale in other comprehensive income. The update is effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. Early adoption is permitted. We are in the process of evaluating the impact of this update on our consolidated financial statements.
In February 2016, the FASB issued a standards update that requires lessees to recognize on the balance sheet the assets and liabilities associated with the rights and obligations created by those leases. The guidance for lessors is largely unchanged from current U.S. GAAP. Under the new guidance, a lessee will be required to recognize assets and liabilities for leases with lease terms of more than 12 months. Consistent with current U.S. GAAP, the recognition, measurement, and presentation of expenses and cash flows arising from a lease by a lessee primarily will depend on its classification as a finance or operating lease. The update is effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption is permitted. We are in the process of evaluating the impact of this update on our consolidated financial statements.




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RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Financial Highlights
The following summarizes significant changes in our financial performance for the years presented.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Year-over-Year Change
(dollars in millions, except per share data)
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
Total revenues
 
$
3,326.8

 
$
3,112.5

 
$
2,936.3

 
7
%
 
6
%
Total expenses
 
1,338.1

 
1,344.1

 
1,299.3

 

 
3

Operating margin
 
60
%
 
57
%
 
56
%
 
 
 
 
Non-operating income (expense)
 
$
(31.9
)
 
$
3.0

 
$
(36.0
)
 
n.m.

 
n.m.

Effective tax rate
 
36
%
 
36
%
 
39
%
 
 
 
 
Net income attributable to CME Group
 
$
1,247.0

 
$
1,127.1

 
$
976.8

 
11

 
15

Diluted earnings per common share attributable to CME Group
 
3.69

 
3.35

 
2.92

 
10

 
15

Cash flows from operating activities
 
1,515.3

 
1,291.4

 
1,280.5

 
17

 
1

n.m. not meaningful
Revenues
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Year-over-Year Change
(dollars in millions)
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
Clearing and transaction fees
 
$
2,783.9

 
$
2,616.3

 
$
2,460.4

 
6
%
 
6
 %
Market data and information services
 
399.4

 
356.3

 
315.4

 
12

 
13

Access and communication fees
 
86.1

 
82.7

 
83.2

 
4

 
(1
)
Other
 
57.4

 
57.2

 
77.3

 

 
(26
)
Total Revenues
 
$
3,326.8

 
$
3,112.5

 
$
2,936.3

 
7

 
6

Clearing and Transaction Fees
The following table summarizes our total contract volume, revenue and average rate per contract for futures and options. Total contract volume includes contracts that are traded on our exchange and cleared through our clearing houses and certain cleared-only contracts. Volume is measured in round turns, which is considered a completed transaction that involves a purchase and an offsetting sale of a contract. Average rate per contract is determined by dividing total clearing and transaction fees by total contract volume. Contract volume and average rate per contract disclosures exclude credit default swaps and interest rate swaps. The credit default swaps and interest rate swaps are discussed in a later section.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Year-over-Year Change
  
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
Total contract volume (in millions)
3,532.5

 
3,443.1

 
3,161.5

 
3
%
 
9
 %
Clearing and transaction fees (in millions)
$
2,716.9

 
$
2,556.7

 
$
2,427.6

 
6

 
5

Average rate per contract
0.769

 
0.743

 
0.768

 
4

 
(3
)
We estimate the following increases (decreases) in clearing and transaction fees based on change in total contract volume and change in average rate per contract during 2015 compared with 2014, and during 2014 compared with 2013.
 
 
Year-over-Year Change
(in millions)
 
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
Increases due to change in total contract volume
 
$
68.8

 
$
209.1

Increase (decrease) due to change in average rate per contract
 
91.4

 
(80.0
)
Net increases in clearing and transaction fees
 
$
160.2

 
$
129.1

Average rate per contract is impacted by our rate structure, including volume-based incentives; product mix; trading venue, and the percentage of volume executed by customers who are members compared with non-member customers. Due to the

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relationship between average rate per contract and contract volume, the change in clearing and transaction fees attributable to changes in each is only an approximation.
Contract Volume
The following table summarizes average daily contract volume. Contract volume can be influenced by many factors, including political and economic factors, the regulatory environment and market competition.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Year-over-Year Change
(amounts in thousands)
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
Average Daily Volume by Product Line:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Interest rate
 
6,720

 
7,009

 
5,903

 
(4
)%
 
19
 %
Equity
 
2,792

 
2,764

 
2,642

 
1

 
5

Foreign exchange
 
872

 
803

 
886

 
9

 
(9
)
Agricultural commodity
 
1,265

 
1,120

 
1,053

 
13

 
6

Energy
 
1,970

 
1,630

 
1,676

 
21

 
(3
)
Metal
 
344

 
337

 
386

 
2

 
(13
)
Aggregate average daily volume
 
13,963

 
13,663

 
12,546

 
2

 
9

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Average Daily Volume by Venue:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Electronic
 
12,185

 
11,805

 
10,826

 
3

 
9

Open outcry
 
1,139

 
1,176

 
1,040

 
(3
)
 
13

Privately negotiated
 
639

 
682

 
680

 
(6
)
 

Aggregate average daily volume
 
13,963

 
13,663

 
12,546

 
2

 
9

Electronic Volume as a Percentage of Total Volume
 
87
%
 
86
%
 
86
%
 
 
 
 
Overall futures and options contract volume increased in 2015 compared with 2014, primarily driven by an increase in energy contract volume. The fall in crude oil prices that began in the fourth quarter of 2014 continued through 2015 and resulted in several periods of high volatility. This was heavily influenced by the increase in global crude oil supplies, which have outpaced demand.
Following higher contract volumes in 2014 led by geopolitical concerns in Russia and Ukraine and falling soybean prices, agricultural commodity contract volume continued to increase in 2015. Large amounts of rain due to changing weather patterns caused by El Niño during 2015 created concerns over planting delays for agricultural commodity products in the United States. We believe this resulted in increases in price volatility across the sector, which has led to increases in overall agricultural commodity contract volumes.
In 2015 when compared with 2014, overall interest rate contract volume decreased following significant volumes in 2014. Interest rate contract volume in 2014 reached a historical high as improved macroeconomic indicators led to changing expectations regarding near-term Federal Reserve actions. This historical high has also contributed to overall increase in volumes in 2014 compared with 2013.

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Interest Rate Products
The following table summarizes average daily contract volume for our key interest rate products. Eurodollar front 8 contracts include contracts expiring within two years. Eurodollar back 32 contracts include contracts expiring within three to ten years. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Year-over-Year Change
(amounts in thousands)
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
Eurodollar futures and options:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Front 8 futures
 
1,580
 
1,580
 
1,159
 
 %
 
36
 %
Back 32 futures
 
724
 
1,052
 
885
 
(31
)
 
19

Options
 
963
 
860
 
595
 
12

 
44

U.S. Treasury futures and options:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10-Year
 
1,613
 
1,704
 
1,619
 
(5
)
 
5

5-Year
 
830
 
884
 
791
 
(6
)
 
12

Treasury bond
 
355
 
426
 
457
 
(17
)
 
(7
)
2-Year
 
338
 
295
 
237
 
15

 
24

Overall interest rate contract volume decreased in 2015 when compared with 2014 primarily due to a decline in longer-dated interest rate contract volume. As market participants anticipated a potential change in interest rates in the near term in 2015, we believe they shifted their focus from Back 32 Eurodollar futures and longer-dated U.S. Treasury futures and options to shorter- term products, including the 2-year U.S. Treasury futures and options. While interest rate volatility remained high in early 2015, changes in macroeconomic factors and a shift from the first quarter's expectations regarding the Federal Reserve interest rate policy change lowered interest rate volatility throughout the remainder of 2015.
In 2014 when compared with 2013, overall interest rate volumes increased due to higher volumes for U.S. Treasury contracts and Eurodollar futures and options contracts, particularly with short-term contracts. We believe the growth was a result of increased volatility driven by changing expectations regarding near-term Federal Reserve actions. In addition, we believe the growth in Eurodollar options volume was attributable to increased sales efforts. Despite overall increases in interest rate volumes, Treasury bond volumes decreased in 2014 compared with 2013. U.S. Treasury volumes were high in the first half of 2013 due to short periods of high volatility created by the Federal Reserve's activities with respect to its quantitative easing program.
Equity Products
The following table summarizes average daily contract volume for our key equity products.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Year-over-Year Change
(amounts in thousands)
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
E-mini S&P 500 futures and options
 
2,200
 
2,146
 
2,119
 
3
 %
 
1
%
E-mini NASDAQ 100 futures and options
 
272
 
312
 
239
 
(13
)
 
30

Overall equity contract volume remained flat in 2015 when compared with 2014 because volatility, as measured by the CBOE Volatility Index, remained high in both periods. Global economic events, led by a deceleration of the Chinese economy in the second half of 2015, resulted in high market volatility in 2015. In 2014, high volatility resulted from geopolitical events in Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East. The E-mini NASDAQ contract volume did not benefit from macro-level events or increased general market volatility to the same extent as the E-mini S&P 500 because the E-mini NASDAQ contract generally hedges different market risks.
We believe the increase in overall equity contract volume in 2014 when compared with 2013 resulted from geopolitical events in Russia and Ukraine as well as the Middle East that led to periods of relatively high volatility in the second half of 2014. We believe the increase in volume was also due to a more gradual increase in broad market volatility during the second half of 2014 caused by uncertainty surrounding interest rates and other geopolitical uncertainty. The increase in the E-mini NASDAQ contract volume was due to market participants shifting attention to the NASDAQ-100 index, which had slightly higher volatility than the S&P 500 throughout most of the year.

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Table of Contents

Foreign Exchange Products
The following table summarizes average daily contract volume for our key foreign exchange products.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Year-over-Year Change
(amounts in thousands)
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
Euro
 
307
 
237
 
269
 
29
 %
 
(12
)%
Japanese yen
 
154
 
164
 
184
 
(6
)
 
(11
)
British pound
 
106
 
111
 
123
 
(5
)
 
(10
)
Australian dollar
 
98
 
96
 
111
 
2

 
(13
)
Canadian dollar
 
74
 
65
 
74
 
13

 
(11
)
Foreign exchange contract volume increased in 2015 when compared with 2014 primarily due to an increase in Euro contract volume cause by quantitative easing and debt concerns in Europe, global economic uncertainty, geopolitical events as well as a strengthening U.S. dollar throughout 2015. We believe these factors led to increases in exchange rate volatility.
In 2014 when compared with 2013, the overall decrease in foreign exchange contract volume was attributable to a decrease in exchange rate volatility across all major currencies. We believe subdued expectations regarding interest rate changes across European countries and Japan led to a decrease in exchange rate volatility throughout these regions. Additionally, we believe allegations regarding possible collusion by certain foreign exchange market participants in other marketplaces had a continued negative impact on overall global foreign exchange product trading during 2014. Despite the overall decline in volume for the year, volume did improve during the second half of 2014 largely due to volatility created by global economic uncertainty and geopolitical risk.
Agricultural Commodity Products
The following table summarizes average daily volume for our key agricultural commodity products.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Year-over-Year Change
(amounts in thousands)
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
Corn
 
415
 
355
 
343
 
17
%
 
4
%
Soybean
 
284
 
263
 
243
 
8

 
8

Wheat
 
183
 
152
 
139
 
21

 
9

Soybean Oil
 
123
 
101
 
100
 
21

 
1

Agricultural commodity product volume increased in 2015 when compared with 2014 due to changes in weather patterns caused by El Niño. An increase in rainfall across the United States during 2015 resulted in concerns over planting delays, which we believe led to an increase in volatility within the agricultural commodity markets.
In 2014 when compared with 2013, agricultural commodity contract volume increased due to higher wheat contract volume in 2014, which we believe was caused by geopolitical concerns in Russia and Ukraine. Substantial increases in the production of corn and soybeans in 2014 encouraged hedgers to more aggressively seek protection against falling prices, which we believe resulted in an increase in volume.
Energy Products
The following table summarizes average daily volume for our key energy products.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Year-over-Year Change
(amounts in thousands)
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
WTI crude oil
 
994
 
730
 
739
 
36
%
 
(1
)%
Natural gas
 
468
 
457
 
522
 
2

 
(13
)
Refined products
 
328
 
294
 
294
 
12

 

Brent crude oil
 
108
 
81
 
46
 
34

 
77

Overall energy contract volume increased in 2015 when compared with 2014 largely due to an increase in crude oil contract volume caused by higher volatility. We believe the increase in crude oil volatility resulted from a continuing shift in crude oil supply that began in the fourth quarter of 2014. Additionally, refined products and natural gas contract volumes increased largely due to higher price volatility in the underlying markets.

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Total energy contract volume decreased slightly in 2014 when compared with 2013 due to a decline in natural gas contract volume, which we believe was attributable to low overall price levels resulting from increasing U.S. energy production. Crude oil volume increased in 2014, particularly in the fourth quarter, due to a shift in supply and demand, which resulted in high volatility within the oil markets.
Metal Products
The following table summarizes average daily volume for our key metal products.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Year-over-Year Change
(amounts in thousands)
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
Gold
 
197
 
196
 
232
 
1
 %
 
(16
)%
Copper
 
67
 
58
 
68
 
16

 
(15
)
Silver
 
58
 
62
 
66
 
(6
)
 
(5
)
Metal contract volume remained flat in 2015 compared with 2014. We believe that demand was stagnant due to lower economic growth rates in Asia resulted in reduced volatility throughout 2014 and 2015.
Overall metal contract volume decreased in 2014 when compared with 2013 due to lower price volatility. Prices remained stable due to a strengthening U.S. dollar and the expectation of an increase in U.S. interest rates. In addition, we believe demand for gold continued to slow due to lower economic growth rates in India and China, which are both large consumers of gold.
Average Rate per Contract
The average rate per contract increased in 2015 when compared with 2014 due to a shift in relative mix of product volume. Energy and agricultural commodity contract volumes, when measured as a percentage of total volume, collectively increased by 3 percentage points in 2015, while interest rate contract volume decreased by 3 percentage points. Energy and agricultural commodity contracts have a higher average rate per contract compared with interest rates. In addition, price increases implemented in February 2015 resulted in a 2% increase in the average rate per contract in 2015 when compared with 2014.
In 2014 when compared with 2013, the average rate per contract decreased due to a shift in the relative mix of product volume. Interest rate contract volume, when measured as a percentage of total volume, increased by 4 percentage points in 2014, while all other product lines decreased. Interest rate contracts have a lower average rate per contract compared with other product lines. In addition, an increase in incentives and discounts on our energy contracts also resulted in a decrease in the average rate per contract in 2014 when compared with 2013.
Cleared-only Swap Contracts
Clearing and transaction fees as presented on the consolidated statements of income include revenues for our cleared-only interest rate swap and credit default swap contracts. In 2015, 2014, and 2013, clearing and transaction fees generated from these contracts were $67.0 million, $59.5 million and $32.3 million, respectively. The increases in revenues were largely attributable to increased sales efforts centered around customer education. The increase in revenue in 2014 when compared with 2013 was also attributable to an increase in CME interest rate swap contract volume resulting from the over-the-counter clearing mandate required to be implemented in 2013 by Dodd-Frank.
Concentration of Revenue
We bill a substantial portion of our clearing and transaction fees to our clearing firms. The majority of clearing and transaction fees received from clearing firms represent charges for trades executed and cleared on behalf of their customers. One firm represented 13% of our clearing and transaction fees revenue in 2015 and one firm represented 12% of our clearing and transaction fees revenue in 2014. One firm represented 11% and another firm represented 10% of our clearing and transaction fees revenue in 2013. Should a clearing firm withdraw, we believe that the customer portion of the firm's trading activity would likely transfer to another clearing firm of the exchange. Therefore, we do not believe we are exposed to significant risk from an ongoing loss of revenue received from or through a particular clearing firm.
Other Sources of Revenue
Market data and information services.
The increase in market data and information services revenues in 2015 when compared with 2014 was attributable to the reduction of fee waivers for certain existing customers beginning in 2015. The increase in market data and information services revenues in 2014 when compared with 2013 was attributable to a $15 fee increase per device for basic real-time market data

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services at the beginning of 2014. The increase was partially offset by cost-cutting initiatives at customer firms as well as continued utilization of a legacy incentive program.
The two largest resellers of our market data represented, in aggregate, 43%, 44% and 52% of our market data and information services revenue in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Despite this concentration, we consider exposure to significant risk of revenue loss to be minimal. In the event that one of these vendors no longer subscribes to our market data, we believe the majority of that vendor's customers would likely subscribe to our market data through another reseller. Additionally, several of our largest institutional customers that utilize services from our two largest resellers report usage and remit payment of their fees directly to us.
Other revenue. In 2014, we recognized $1.9 million in fees earned under our technology agreement with BM&FBOVESPA compared with $8.7 million in 2013. In addition, we sold the NYMEX building in the fourth quarter of 2013, which resulted in a decrease in rental income in 2014 when compared with 2013. In 2013, we also recognized $5.1 million of insurance proceeds related to Hurricane Sandy. These events contributed to the decrease in other revenues in 2014 when compared with 2013.
Expenses
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Year-over-Year Change
(dollars in millions)
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
Compensation and benefits
 
$
553.7

 
$
552.1

 
$
518.9

 
 %
 
6
 %
Communications
 
27.8

 
32.0

 
35.3

 
(13
)
 
(9
)
Technology support services
 
64.5

 
58.2

 
53.6

 
11

 
9

Professional fees and outside services
 
122.8

 
129.0

 
130.3

 
(5
)
 
(1
)
Amortization of purchased intangibles
 
99.4

 
100.6

 
103.0

 
(1
)
 
(2
)
Depreciation and amortization
 
129.2

 
132.6

 
135.1

 
(3
)
 
(2
)
Occupancy and building operations
 
92.5

 
96.8

 
78.3

 
(4
)
 
24

Licensing and other fee agreements
 
123.8

 
114.2

 
97.9

 
8

 
17

Other
 
124.4

 
128.6

 
146.9

 
(3
)
 
(12
)
Total Expenses
 
$
1,338.1

 
$
1,344.1

 
$
1,299.3

 

 
3

2015 Compared With 2014
Operating expenses decreased by $6.0 million in 2015 when compared with 2014. The following table shows the estimated impact of key factors resulting in the net decrease in operating expenses.
(dollars in millions)
 
Year-
Over-Year
Change
 
Change as a
Percentage of
2014 Expenses
Salaries, benefits and employer taxes
 
$
(16.2
)
 
(1
)%
Merger and acquisition costs
 
(8.3
)
 
(1
)
Data center depreciation
 
(7.9
)
 
(1
)
Bonus expense
 
9.5

 
1

License and other fee agreements
 
9.6

 
1

Real estate taxes and fees
 
10.0

 
1

MF Global bankruptcy claim
 
14.5

 
1

Other expenses, net
 
(17.2
)
 
(1
)
Total
 
$
(6.0
)
 
 %
Overall operating expenses decreased in 2015 when compared with 2014 due to the following reasons:
Compensation and benefits expense decreased as a result of a decline in average headcount largely related to the reorganizations announced in the fourth quarter of 2014 and the third quarter of 2015 as well as the partial closing of the trading floor in the second quarter of 2015.
In 2014, we recognized professional fees and other expenses associated with our proposed transaction with GFI Group Inc. (GFI Group). The agreement with GFI Group was terminated in January 2015.
Depreciation expense decreased due to the acceleration of depreciation expense related to certain data center assets in 2014 as a result of the data center consolidation project.

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Table of Contents

The decrease in overall operating expenses in 2015 when compared with 2014 were partially offset by the following increases:
Bonus expense increased due to performance relative to our 2015 cash earnings target when compared with 2014 performance relative to our 2014 cash earnings target.
An increase in licensing and other fee sharing agreements expense resulted from higher expenses related to revenue sharing agreements for certain equity and energy contracts as well as higher revenues for interest rate swap products.
In 2015, we recognized additional real estate taxes and fees related to the transfer of the ownership of the NYMEX building.
In 2014, we recognized our claim from the MF Global bankruptcy filing, which occurred in the fourth quarter of 2011. This was recognized as a reduction of other expenses in 2014.
Overall operating expenses also decreased in 2015 due to ongoing efforts towards overall expense reductions.

2014 Compared With 2013
Operating expenses increased by $44.8 million in 2014 when compared with 2013. The following table shows the estimated impact of key factors resulting in the net increase in operating expenses.
(dollars in millions)
 
Year-
Over-Year
Change
 
Change as a
Percentage of
2013 Expenses
Salaries, benefits and employer taxes
 
$
23.5

 
2
 %
Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations
 
20.8

 
2

Reorganization costs and voluntary exit incentive plan
 
18.2

 
1

License and other fee agreements
 
16.3

 
1

Merger and acquisition costs
 
11.0

 
1

MF Global bankruptcy claim
 
(14.5
)
 
(1
)
Security breach
 
(16.0
)
 
(1
)
Loss on sale of NYMEX building, net of additional occupancy expenses
 
(19.5
)
 
(2
)
Other expenses, net
 
5.0

 

Total
 
$
44.8

 
3
 %
Operating expenses increased in 2014 when compared with 2013 due to the following reasons:
Compensation and benefits expense increased as a result of increases in average headcount related to efforts to expand our product offerings and geographic reach as well as to meet additional regulatory requirements. The overall increase in average headcount was partially offset by a global workforce reduction of approximately 150 positions as part of a reorganization in October 2014. Expenses also increased due to annual salary increases and rising healthcare costs.
In 2014, we recognized a net loss within other expenses of $15.4 million due to an unfavorable change in exchange rates on foreign cash balances, compared with a net gain of $5.4 million in 2013. Gains and losses from exchange rate fluctuations result when subsidiaries with a U.S. dollar functional currency hold cash as well as certain other monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies. We expect to continue to incur gains and losses from exchange rate fluctuations as long as we maintain those cash balances.
Severance and other costs related to the reorganization in October 2014 were recognized in the fourth quarter of 2014. Additionally, compensation and benefits expenses increased due to our voluntary exit incentive plan in the second quarter of 2014.
An increase in licensing and other fee agreements expense resulted from higher volumes for certain equity contracts as well as higher revenues for interest rate swap products.
We recognized professional fees and other expenses related to our proposed transaction with GFI Group.
Increases in overall operating expenses in 2014 when compared with 2013 were partially offset by the following decreases:
In the second quarter of 2014, we recognized the settlement of our claim in the MF Global bankruptcy filing as a reduction to other expenses.
A decrease in expenses from legal and other consulting services related to a security breach in 2013 partially offset the increase in overall expenses in 2014.

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In November 2013, CME Group sold and leased back its building in New York. The sale resulted in a loss on disposal of building assets, a write-off of lease-related intangible assets and other transaction-related costs included within other expenses in 2013. The impact from the loss as well as depreciation, occupancy and amortization of intangible expenses recognized in 2013 was partially offset by higher occupancy expenses in 2014 associated with the new building lease.
Non-Operating Income (Expense)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Year-over-Year Change
(dollars in millions)
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
Investment income
 
$
30.1

 
$
35.8

 
$
44.9

 
(16
)%
 
(20
)%
Gains (losses) on derivative investments
 
(1.8
)
 

 

 
n.m.

 

Interest and other borrowing costs
 
(117.4
)
 
(119.4
)
 
(151.4
)
 
(2
)
 
(21
)
Equity in net earnings (losses) of unconsolidated subsidiaries
 
100.0

 
84.8

 
70.5

 
18

 
20

Other income (expense)
 
(42.8
)
 
1.8

 

 
n.m.

 
n.m.

Total Non-Operating
 
$
(31.9
)
 
$
3.0

 
$
(36.0
)
 
n.m.

 
n.m.

 _______________
n.m. not meaningful
Investment income. In 2015 when compared with 2014, the overall decrease in investment income was largely due to a net loss of $8.5 million on the sale of approximately 41.0 million shares of our investment in BM&FBOVESPA during 2015. This loss was partially offset by an increase in earnings from cash performance bond and guaranty fund contributions as a result of larger collateral balances held.
The overall decrease in investment income in 2014 when compared with 2013 was largely due to a decrease in dividend income and a reduced gain on marketable securities related to our non-qualified deferred compensation plan. Gains and losses from securities in the non-qualified deferred compensation plan are offset by an equal amount of compensation and benefits expense. The overall decrease was partially offset by an increase in earnings from cash performance bond and guaranty fund contributions that were reinvested. The increase in cash performance bond and guaranty fund contributions was due to an increase in open interest as well as a shift in clearing firm collateral preferences towards cash.
Interest and other borrowing costs. The following table shows the weighted average borrowings outstanding, weighted average effective yield and average cost of borrowing for the periods presented:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Year-over-Year Change
(dollars in millions)
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
Weighted average borrowings outstanding (in millions)
 
$
2,330.6

 
$
2,206.3

 
$
2,781.3

 
$
124.3

 
$
(575.0
)
Weighted average effective yield
 
3.72
%
 
4.22
%
 
4.68
%
 
(0.50
)%
 
(0.46
)%
Average cost of borrowing (1)
 
3.91

 
4.40

 
4.85

 
(0.49
)
 
(0.45
)
(1) Average cost of borrowings includes interest, the effective portion of interest rate hedges, discount accretion and debt issuance costs. Commitment fees on line of credit agreements are not included in the average cost of borrowings.
In February 2014, we repaid the $750.0 million 5.75% notes due February 2014, and in April 2015, we repurchased the $612.5 million 4.40% notes due March 2018. In March 2015, we issued $750.0 million 3.0% notes due March 2025. These transactions contributed to decreases in weighted average effective yield and average cost of borrowings from 2013 through 2015. The weighted average borrowings outstanding increased slightly in 2015 when compared with 2014 due to the replacement of the $612.5 million 4.40% notes with the $750.0 million 3.0% notes in early 2015. The weighted average borrowings outstanding decreased in 2014 when compared with 2013 due to the repayment of the $750.0 million 5.75% notes in February 2014.
Equity in net earnings (losses) of unconsolidated subsidiaries. Higher income generated from our S&P/DJI business venture contributed to increases in equity in net earnings (losses) of unconsolidated subsidiaries from 2013 through 2015.
Other income (expense). In April 2015, we repurchased the $612.5 million 4.40% notes due 2018 and paid a call premium of $60.5 million. As a result of the transaction, we recognized debt prepayment costs of $61.8 million, including the call premium, as other non-operating income (expense). In the first quarter of 2015, we received a termination fee of $22.5 million, net of the

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portion paid to outside advisers, related to our proposed acquisition of GFI Group, which also was classified as other non-operating income (expense).
Income Tax Provision
The following table summarizes the effective tax rate for the periods presented:
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
Year-over-Year Change
2015-2014
 
2014-2013
Year ended December 31
36.3
%
 
36.4
%
 
38.9
%
 
(0.1
)%
 
(2.5
)%
The effective tax rate in 2015 was relatively flat compared with the effective tax rate in 2014 because the deferred income tax benefit resulting from remeasurement of the deferred income tax balances in 2015 related to changes in state and local apportionment factors and enacted state and local law changes was comparable to similar benefits arising from audit settlements and remeasurement of deferred income tax balances in 2014.
In 2014 when compared with 2013, the overall effective tax rate decreased due to lower deferred income tax expense related to changes in estimates of state and local apportionment factors as well as benefits related to settlements from state and local audits. We also continued to recognize a benefit for the domestic productions activity deduction in 2014. However, the benefits for the domestic production activities recognized in 2014 were lower than the benefits recognized in 2013 because the benefits recognized in 2013 included the impact of refunds claimed for 2008 through 2013.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
Cash Requirements
We have historically met our funding requirements with cash generated by our ongoing operations. While our cost structure is fixed in the short term, our sources of operating cash are largely dependent on contract trading volume levels. We believe that our existing cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities and cash generated from operations will be sufficient to cover our working capital needs, capital expenditures and other commitments. However, it is possible that we may need to raise additional funds to finance our activities through issuances of commercial paper, future public debt offerings or by direct borrowings from financial institutions through our committed revolving credit facilities.
Cash will also be required for operating leases and non-cancellable purchase obligations as well as other obligations reflected as long-term liabilities in our consolidated balance sheet at December 31, 2015. These were as follows:
 
(in millions)
 
Operating
Leases
 
Purchase
Obligations
 
Debt Obligations
 
Other
Long-Term
Liabilities
 
Total(1)
Year
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2016
 
$
50.2

 
$