COMEX CONSIDERING NEW FUTURES CONTRACTS
The Commodity Exchange Inc,
COMEX, is researching the possibility of offering futures
contracts on foreign currency swaps and Ginnie Mae repurchase
agreements, a COMEX consultant said.
    Kurt Dew, president of Risk Analysis Systems, said the idea
was on the drawing board at the staff level and not near
realization.
    Dew said the contracts would be logical successors to two
contracts already proposed by the exchange -- futures on
interest rate swaps and on Treasury repurchase agreements, or
repos.
    Regulations recently proposed by federal bank regulators
could enhance the attractiveness of futures contracts on
currency swaps, he said.
    Those regulations would require banks to allocate a certain
share of its capital to currency swaps, Dew said. Futures on
currency swaps would not require capital allocation.
    A futures market in Government National Mortgage
Association (Ginnie Mae) repos would help investors outside the
circle of primary dealers get the best possible price, Dew
said.
    Dew emphasized that the COMEX board had not yet considered
the contracts.
 Reuter
