Google invests $1bn into Chicago Mercantile Exchange as part of cloud migration deal
The cloud giant will migrate all of the CME's infrastructure and its markets to the cloud at the start of 2022
by: Bobby Hellard
Google Cloud has signed a 10-year cloud migration deal with global financial market exchange service CME Group.
The tech giant has also made a $1 billion equity investment in a new series convertible preferred stock of the Chicago-based financial organisation.
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The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is the largest financial derivatives exchange in the world. It currently trades in asset classes such as currencies, energy, interest rates, and even cryptocurrencies.
Under the agreement, the CME Group will migrate its technology infrastructure to Google Cloud, with the move starting early in 2022. This will include all data and clearing services, with all of CME's markets eventually moving to the cloud.
The aim is to improve the service for participants with an easier on-boarding experience and a more expansive offering by scaling the infrastructure and optimising costs. This will include introductions to new products and services, such as risk mitigation tools, analytical features, and "user-centric" platforms. The two companies will also continue to explore ways to work together on go-to-market initiatives that deliver new innovations for CME Group's customers.
"CME Group has a century-long track record of helping investors access new markets and is known for innovation in financial markets," said Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud. "Bringing together CME Group's best-in-class financial talent with Google Cloud's deep engineering expertise will help accelerate technological innovation in capital markets infrastructure."
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The deal is seen as a big win for Google Cloud, which is aiming to close the gap between itself and Microsoft and AWS in the cloud services market. It also gives Google a foothold in the financial services sector, which is fast becoming a lucrative market for cloud computing.
Google's $1 billion investment in CME was in the form of "non-voting" preferred stock, which gives it an ownership stake, but no voting rights or say in how the CME is run.
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