55 East 52nd Street

New York, NY 10055

BY ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION

Submission No. 23-167

December 18, 2023

Mr. Christopher J. Kirkpatrick

Secretary of the Commission

Office of the Secretariat

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Three Lafayette Centre

1155 21st Street, NW

Washington, DC 20581

Re: Amendments to MSCI Exchange Member Program - Submission Pursuant to Section 

5c(c)(1) of the Act and Regulation 40.6

Dear Mr. Kirkpatrick:

Pursuant to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Regulation 40.6(a), ICE Futures 

U.S., Inc. (“IFUS” or “Exchange”) hereby submits by written certification, the amendments to the MSCI 

Exchange Member Program (“Program”) set forth in Exhibit A. 

The Program currently offers market participants that are members or member firms of IFUS or 

another qualifying exchange the ability to earn discounted Exchange and Clearing fees on their proprietary 

trading of MSCI Emerging Market and EAFE Index futures contracts. Program participants who execute 

at least 30,000 lots of MICRO NYSE FANG+ Index Futures during a calendar month will earn a discount 

on Exchange and clearing fees based on the volume of MSCI Emerging Market and EAFE Index futures 

they traded during that calendar month. Participants which fail to meet the minimum volume requirement 

for MICRO NYSE FANG+TM futures in a month, will not be eligible for Program discounts for the rest of 

a calendar quarter. The Program is structured in tiers which offer participants progressive discounts based 

on their monthly volume. Both screen and non-screen (off-Exchange) volume are included in determining 

a participant’s monthly volume in the Program and both are eligible for any discounted Exchange and 

Clearing fee earned. 

 

The substantive amendments to the Program: (i) expand the program discount incentives, which 

were only available for MSCI Emerging Market and EAFE Index futures volume, to a broader set of MSCI 

Index futures: (ii) change the discount schedule; (iii) eliminate the requirement that participants meet the 

MICRO NYSE Fang+ volume requirement each month during a calendar quarter in order to be eligible for 

Program discounts during such quarter; and (iv) extend the Program an additional year. In addition, the 

amendments place an express limit on the time period that a participant may request a discount adjustment. 
The Exchange certifies that the amended Program complies with the requirements of the 

Commodity Exchange Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. In particular, the Program

complies with Core Principle 4 (Monitoring of Trading), Core Principle 9 (Execution of Transactions) and 

Core Principle 12 (Protection of Market Participants). The Program does not impact order execution 

priority or otherwise give participants any execution preference or advantage. In addition, the Exchange’s 

Market Regulation Department actively monitors for trading abuses using electronic exception reports and 

will take appropriate action against any participants engaging in market abuses. 

The Exchange is not aware of any opposing views with regard to the new Program, which will 

become effective on January 5, 2024, and further certifies that, concurrent with this filing, a redacted copy 

of this submission was posted on the Exchange’s website at (https://www.theice.com/futuresus/regulation#rule-filings). 

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact me at 212-748-4021 or at 

jason.fusco@theice.com.

Sincerely,

Jason V. Fusco

Assistant General Counsel

Market Regulation

Enc.
EXHIBIT A

ICE Futures U.S.®, Inc. MSCI Contract Exchange Member Fee Program

 

The program offers entities that are members of a number of qualifying derivatives exchanges and that 

execute proprietary trades in MSCI Futures and NYSE FANG+TM Index Futures to earn a discounted 

Exchange and Clearing fee for their [program] volume in MSCI futures [MSCI EM Index futures (MME) 

and MSCI EAFE Index futures (MFS)] each month. Note that investment banks and their affiliates are not 

eligible for this program.

Participants are required to trade a minimum of at least 30,000 screen-traded sides of NYSE MICRO 

FANG+TM futures per month to qualify for rebates. [If a participant misses a month, they will not be eligible 

for MSCI rebates for the rest of that quarter. For example, if a participant trades 30,000 MICRO FANG+ 

in July but only 2,000 MICRO FANG+ in August, they will not be eligible for September MSCI 

rebates. The cycle will begin again for the next quarter with the October contract.]

For participants who meet that NYSE FANG+ volume threshold, the amount of the discounted Exchange 

and Clearing Fee for MSCI futures [EM Index futures (MME) and MSCI EAFE Index futures (MFS)]

contracts earned in a calendar month is based on the participant’s MSCI total contract volume in the month, 

as shown below:

Sides 

Traded

$ per 

side

Lower 

Tier

Upper 

Tier

Fees 

Screen Block/EFPs

1 0 25,000 1.20 1.75

2 25,001 75,000 0.71 1.05

3 75,001 125,000 0.65 0.96

4 125,001 250,000 0.60 0.88

5 250,001 500,000 0.55 0.79

6 500,001 750,000 0.49 0.70

7 750,001 1,000,000 0.44 0.61

8 1,000,001 + 0.38 0.53

Sides Traded $ per side

Lower 

Tier Upper Tier

Fees Fees 

Screen* Block/EFPs*

1 0 25,000 1.2 1.75

2 25,001 100,000 0.71 1.05

3 100,001 200,000 0.65 0.96

4 200,001 350,000 0.6 0.88
5 350,001 750,000 0.55 0.79

6 750,001 1,000,000 0.49 0.7

7 1,000,001 1,500,000 0.44 0.61

8 1,500,001 + 0.40 0.60

* There are no fee reductions for the following contracts. Standard fees for these products are $.60/side 

for blocks/EFRPs and $.40/side for screen trades. Eligible participants will receive discounted fees in all 

other MSCI contracts.

MSCI ACWI NTR Index Futures (USD) MMW

MSCI Canada GTR Index Futures CAD

MSCI Europe NTR Index Futures (EUR) MVV

MSCI Europe NTR Index Futures (USD) EU9

MSCI USA GTR Index Futures USS

MSCI World NTR Index Futures (EUR) ESI

MSCI World NTR Index Futures (USD) MWS

MSCI ACWI NTR Index Daily Futures (USD) DML

MSCI Europe NTR Index Daily Futures (USD) DMR

MSCI USA GTR Index Daily Futures DMO

MSCI World NTR Index Daily Futures (USD) DMJ

In calculating the monthly rebate amount for a Participant, the fee rate shown above for each Tier will be 

applied to all volume within that Tier. So, for example a Participant that trades 30,000 sides of program 

volume in calendar month will receive the Tier 1 rates for Screen and Non-Screen volume for the first 

25,000 sides and will receive the Tier 2 discounted rates for Screen and Non-Screen trades for the next 

5,000 sides.

Participant Name __________________________________________________________

Type of Membership (check one)

CME CBOT CBOE

__ Corporate Member __ Corporate Member __ Corporate Member

NYMEX ISE IFUS

__ Corporate Member __ Corporate Member __ Corporate Member

ICE Futures Europe CFE

__ Corporate Member __ Corporate Member

NFA Registration ID (if applicable):_________________________________
Please identify the proprietary account/s you will be using for trading ICE Futures U.S. products.

ICE Futures U.S. Clearing Member Proprietary Trading Account Number

Clearing Member Contact: _________________________Phone:___________ email: _________________

Only transactions in MSCI contracts executed by the participant in its proprietary account(s) are eligible 

for discounted fees in this program; block trades and EFP transactions in these contracts are eligible for 

discounted fees. The difference between the discounted rate earned by the participant in this Program and 

the standard customer fees for the contracts will be rebated to the Program participating firm through the 

participating firm’s clearing member.

Any requests by the Participant or its Clearing Member to adjust the amount of the rebate for any reason, 

including account errors and omissions, must be submitted to ICE Futures audit personnel by the 7th 

business day of the 2nd calendar month following the month in which the trading occurred. Requests not 

submitted by such time will be denied by the Exchange.

The Exchange Member Fee Program continues through trade date December 31, 202[3]4 or until further 

notice, but in no case for a period to exceed three years. ICE Futures U.S. reserves the right to remove any 

participant from the Program at its discretion, and to terminate or amend the program terms at any time.

As a qualified representative of the Exchange member applying to participate in the Program, I hereby 

certify that the information provided above is true and correct. I hereby acknowledge and understand that 

ICE Futures U.S., including but not limited to the Market Regulation Department, will be reviewing trading 

in the proprietary account(s) listed above to determine whether the participant continues to meet the 

requirements of the Program and whether the participant should continue or be renewed as a participant in 

the Program. I authorize ICE Futures U.S. to contact the clearing member of the participant from time to 

time to confirm its continued eligibility for the program and authorize its clearing member to release all 

trading information related to the proprietary account(s) listed above to ICE Futures U.S.

Signature: _____________________________________________________ Date: __________

Printed Name: _________________________________________

Title: ____________________________________________Firm:______________________________

Telephone Number: _________________________________

E-Mail Address: ____________________________________

Please call Ted Doukas (312.836.6712) or Laura Brandeis (212.323.8874) with questions about the 

program. The application should be returned to ted.doukas@theice.com or laura.brandeis@theice.com.