CME posts strong results, ponders another Forex venue?

CME Group, one of the world’s largest futures and options exchanges, reported that first-quarter total revenues for 2010 increased 7 percent to $693 million and operating income increased 7 percent to $415 million from the year-ago period.

First-quarter net income was $240 million and diluted earnings per share were $3.62, both up 21 percent from the same period last year. First-quarter 2010 results included $6 million in non-operating income for the recovery of a bankruptcy claim and a $6 million reduction in certain tax reserves, offset primarily by $10 million of professional fees related to the company’s joint venture with Dow Jones. These three items increased net income by $2 million. First-quarter 2010 figures include the results of Dow Jones Indexes beginning March 19, 2010.

What’s more interesting is that CME announced plans to handle a range of off-exchange derivatives contracts, such as interest-rate swaps, swap options, and so-called “cap” and “floor” contracts. The exchange is also working on clearing capabilities to accommodate foreign-exchange forwards, swaps and options alongside over-the-counter spot deals.

Here this becomes interesting, is this CME’s another take on  the retail FX market after the much hyped FXMarketspace launch and crash? It would be extremely interesting to see how CME would like to implement this. Although this is inline with my perception of the global FX marketplace becoming more centralized via several clearing venues this is surely not going to be easy for CME as it already failed once and the market has more than enough of such venues at this point.