Guarantees
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12 Months Ended |
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Dec. 31, 2014
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Guarantees [Abstract] | |
Guarantees | GUARANTEES Mutual Offset Agreement. CME and Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) have a mutual offset agreement with a current term through October 2015. This agreement enables market participants to open a futures position on one exchange and liquidate it on the other. The term of the agreement will automatically renew for a one-year period unless either party provides advance notice of its intent to terminate. CME can maintain collateral in the form of U.S. Treasury securities or irrevocable, standby letters of credit. At December 31, 2014, CME was contingently liable to SGX on irrevocable letters of credit totaling $410.0 million. Regardless of the collateral, CME guarantees all cleared transactions submitted through SGX and would initiate procedures designed to satisfy these financial obligations in the event of a default, such as the use of performance bonds and guaranty fund contributions of the defaulting clearing firm. The company believes that its guarantee liability is immaterial and therefore has not recorded any liability at December 31, 2014. Family Farmer and Rancher Protection Fund. In 2012, the company established the Family Farmer and Rancher Protection Fund (the Fund). The Fund is designed to provide payments, up to certain maximum levels, to family farmers, ranchers and other agricultural industry participants who use the company's agricultural products and who suffer losses to their segregated account balances due to their CME clearing member becoming insolvent. Under the terms of the Fund, farmers and ranchers are eligible for up to $25,000 per participant. Farming and ranching cooperatives are eligible for up to $100,000 per cooperative. The Fund has an aggregate maximum payment amount of $100.0 million. Since its establishment, the Fund has made payments of approximately $2.0 million, which leaves $98.0 million available for future claims. If payments to participants were to exceed this amount, payments would be pro-rated. Clearing members and customers must register in advance with the company and provide certain documentation in order to substantiate their eligibility. The company believes that its guarantee liability is immaterial and therefore has not recorded any liability at December 31, 2014. |