Aug, 09 2011
GFI Group Dry Freight Adds Matching to Trade Execution Offer Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:20:40

Group’s leading screen EnergyMatch® Europe expands execution choice

New York, August 9, 2011 – GFI Group Inc. (NYSE: “GFIG”) announced today that it has conducted the first matching* of dry freight forward freight agreements “FFAs” trades on its premier electronic platform EnergyMatch® Europe.

EnergyMatch Europe is GFI Group’s leading electronic trading platform for energy and commodities and the market leader for the trading of Dry Freight FFAs. The screen allows for trading in co-mingled markets (co-mingling is the ability to clear trades with different clearing houses) and provides customers with the choice of CCP (Central Counter Party Clearing House) for clearing.

Along with Dry Freight FFAs, UK and European power and gas, coal, fuel oil, emissions and wet freight FFAs can be traded electronically on EnergyMatch Europe. Iron ore will be added to the offering imminently.

Dorian Benson, Head of GFI Dry Freight Group said: “We are continuing to seek fresh and innovative tools for the dry FFA markets to enable customers alternative and efficient trading opportunities and execution. The introduction of co-mingling, JTT and Matching builds upon the great success that we have enjoyed on our screen release over the past few years and is indicative of GFI’s hybrid broking model. We believe that this should allow us to remain at the forefront of the electronic market within freight”.

GFI Dry Freight offers its clients alternatives in their method of execution: voice brokered, hybrid (voice & electronic) and fully electronic via matching and Join-the-Trade “JTT”**.

*Matching is a process run on various GFI electronic trading platforms which allows traders to anonymously contribute and trade at mid-market levels on specific contracts during periodic sessions. Sessions are carried out during set times in the day and have short durations of a few minutes. GFI Matching sessions help create concentrated and deep liquidity pools that allow large volume trades to be transacted at mid-market levels.

**JTT is a workup functionality that allows market participants to anonymously trade large volumes for a pre-defined period of time, at the prevailing market price without the risk of distorting the market. GFI introduced Join-the-Trade for the UK Gas market and for Dry Freight in November 2010.

About GFI Group Inc.

GFI Group Inc. (NYSE: “GFIG”) is a leading provider of wholesale brokerage services, clearing services, electronic execution and trading support products for global financial markets. GFI Group Inc. provides brokerage services, market data, trading platform and analytics software products to institutional clients in markets for a range of fixed income, financial, equity and commodity instruments.

Headquartered in New York, GFI was founded in 1987 and employs more than 2,000 people with additional offices in London, Paris, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney, Cape Town, Santiago, Bogota, Dubai, Dublin, Tel Aviv, Calgary, Los Angeles, Englewood (NJ) and Sugar Land (TX). GFI Group Inc. provides services and products to over 2,600 institutional clients, including leading investment and commercial banks, corporations, insurance companies and hedge funds. Its brands include GFISM, GFInet®, CreditMatch®, GFI ForexMatch®, EnergyMatch®, FENICS®, Starsupply®, Amerex®, Trayport® and Kyte®.

Forward-looking statement

Certain matters discussed in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “may,” “might,” “intend,” “expect” and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations of GFI Group Inc. (the “Company”) and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with: economic, political and market factors affecting trading volumes; securities prices or demand for the Company’s brokerage services; competition from current and new competitors; the Company’s ability to attract and retain key personnel, including highly-qualified brokerage personnel; the Company’s ability to identify and develop new products and markets; changes in laws and regulations governing the Company’s business and operations or permissible activities; the Company’s ability to manage its international operations; financial difficulties experienced by the Company’s customers or key participants in the markets in which the Company focuses its brokerage services; the Company’s ability to keep up with technological changes; uncertainties relating to litigation and the Company’s ability to assess and integrate acquisition prospects. Further information about factors that could affect the Company’s financial and other results is included in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company does not undertake to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.