U.S. derivatives regulators have ruled that ICE Futures Canada, Inc. and Montreal Exchange Inc. can provide U.S.-based firms with direct access to their trading systems.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on Wednesday that it has issued orders to Winnipeg-based ICE Futures Canada and the MX, granting them registration to allow them to provide their participants located in the U.S. with direct access to their electronic order entry and trade matching systems.

The commission says ICE will offer direct access for futures and options contracts on milling wheat, canola, durum wheat, and barley, and the MX will offer direct access for futures contracts on interest rates and certain broad-based security indices; as well as options on futures contracts based on the Canadian overnight repo rate average and 10-year Government of Canada bonds.

The exchanges previously offered direct access under no-action letters issued by the commission. These orders have now been issued under regulations that allow the CFTC to provide authorization to foreign exchanges that are subject to oversight by a regulator that is comparable to the supervision and regulation provided by the CFTC.

The CFTC has determined that ICE and the MX “have demonstrated their ability to comply with the requirements of the applicable commission regulations,” the commission says.