On November 6, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that it had issued an Order of Registration to ICE Futures Abu Dhabi Limited (IFAD), a Foreign Board of Trade (FBOT) incorporated in the Abu Dhabi Global Market and located in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Under the order, IFAD’s members and other US participants will be permitted to enter orders directly into IFAD’s trade matching system. IFAD satisfied CFTC requirements for FBOT registration by demonstrating that:

• it possesses the attributes of an established, organized exchange; and

• it is subject to comprehensive oversight by its home country regulator whose supervision is comparable to that which the CFTC applies in its oversight of designated contract markets.

IFAD expects to begin trading the Murban crude oil futures contract on March 29, 2021.

A copy of the CFTC’s release is available here.