Chicago’s two big exchanges, the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade, are racing to make partnerships with foreign players.

The CBOE and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange announced that they signed a Memorandum of Understanding today, which is intended to, “facilitate the development of channels of communication and to foster a continuing relationship between the two exchanges for the respective benefit of the financial services industry in the United States and the People’s Republic of China.”

“CBOE is pleased to have the opportunity to partner with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in a cooperative effort to assist the SSE in establishing their equity derivatives business,” said CBOE chairman and CEO William Brodsky. “We look forward to building a relationship with them that can lead to the development of new products, the expansion of markets, and the creation of future opportunities that may be mutually beneficial not only for both of our exchanges, but for both of our countries.”

The memorandum between CBOE and SSE lays the foundation for the exchange of educational resources and information with respect to pursuing cooperation and potential joint business initiatives between the two exchanges with regard to options and other derivatives products. Earlier this year, CBOE signed similar memoranda with the Dalian Commodity Exchange, the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange.

China’s financial derivatives market is still young, noted Zhang Yujun, president and CEO of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, with interest rates and exchange rates yet to be fully commoditized. “Great efforts have been spent in the development of derivative products and the launch of equity derivatives is high on our agenda,” he said. “The ongoing non-tradable shares reform creates favorable conditions for this initiative and we believe that establishing a long-term, cooperative relationship between SSE and CBOE will provide reciprocal benefits to both markets. We are hopeful that the Shenzhen market can benefit from the positive experience of our association with American markets as we move forward in further developing our marketplace.”

At the same time, the CBOT announced that it has entered into an MOU with the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange, “with the purpose of facilitating cooperation between the two exchanges”.

Among other things, the MOU, signed by CBOT president and CEO Bernard Dan and DGCX chairman David Rutledge contemplates the investigation of cooperative action between the two exchanges in relation to spread margining for certain commodity contracts and permits sharing of information.

Dan said, “Entering into an agreement with the DGCX, on the eve of its debut demonstrates our faith in the validity of the exchange. The DGCX is expected to play a critical role in bringing risk management and price discovery to this fast growing region. We look forward to developing and growing our relationship with the DGCX.”

Framroze Pochara, DGCX chief executive said, “As the world’s newest commodities exchange, DGCX is delighted to associate in this way with CBOT, the exchange on which modern futures trading first emerged. We are confident that this MOU will lead to the development of initiatives that will be of real commercial benefit to our respective market participants.”

The DGCX is expected to commence trading on November 22, with a 1 kilogram gold futures contract, to be followed by silver futures, gold and silver options and a range of other commodities contracts.