The China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) has signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), said a high-ranking official with CFETS.

Lin Yuli, president of CFETS, said the two sides signed the memorandum on June 8 in Chicago.

According to the memorandum, CFETS will provide its US counterpart information on foreign exchange and the money market in China, including policies, regulations and detailed development of the market.

"The information could help CME to understand the development of the money market in China better," said Lin.

Meanwhile, CME would help the Chinese side to become familiar with the operation, products and rules of international foreign exchange derivative market. It will also assist China with design and marketing of derivative products and help train professional traders.

Terry Duffy, chairman of CME, said Asia is a new market that CME is preparing to tap. The signing of the memorandum will lay a strong foundation for further cooperation for the two sides in the future.

Under the supervision of the People's Bank of China, CFETS is one of the major money markets in China which is engaged in inter-bank lending of foreign exchange and Renminbi. In the past years, CFETS has seen a rapid transaction volume increase. In 2003, it registered transaction volume of foreign exchange equaling 151.1 billion US dollars, up 55 percent over the previous year, while that of Renminbi businesses was 17.2 trillion yuan, up 45 percent.

The CME is the largest futures exchange in the United States and the largest futures Clearing House in the world for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts.