executives describedrapid growth in trading volumes across Asia during the exchange's first-quarterearnings call.

"Wehave been discussing the opportunity to expand our user base to include Chinesefirms and entities for many years," CEO Phupinder Gill told analysts. WhileCME's early efforts focused on intermediaries, it is now dealing directly with assetmanagers and hedge funds there.

"Theinvestments we have made in boots-on-the-ground sales campaigns and product salesin Asia, for us, is bearing significant fruit," Derek Sammann, CME's seniormanaging director of commodities and options products, said.
Revenue for Asia was up 82% year over year for March, Michael Shore, a company spokesperson,said in an email.
Chief Commercial Officer Bryan Durkin noted that certain client segments have drivenmuch of that region's growth. Revenue from banking clients was up 104% year overyear for the quarter, and sales from hedge fund customers rose 96%?, he said.?

The improving business environment in China is working to CME'sadvantage, Durkin said. "We're seeing some good traction in terms of liberalizationof central state-owned enterprises," he noted. More Chinese banks are inquiringabout trading CME products and over-the-counter clearing.

"As we sit here now, China is allowing and has allowed intermediaries,as well as … the hedge funds, the [proprietary traders] and the commercial entitiesto establish operations outside of China, and that's the flow we're seeing,"Gill added. "India is an untapped opportunity at the time."