Common use of Inter-office Clause in Contracts

Inter-office. Inter-office trading is conducted between members by telephone or by electronic means. On contacting an LME member for a quote, clients will usually be provided with the member’s current bid and offer. The client may trade on this quote, or call another member in an attempt to improve the quote, or wait and monitor prices on the LME market data system, or leave an order with a member. If an order cannot be filled from the member’s book, it may be executed via a back-to-back Exchange Contract agreed via a telephone deal with another member or executed via an electronic trading system. LME Select allows members to trade LME futures Contracts in metals and plastics, traded options and Traded Average Price Option contracts (TAPOs), and an index future and option. MSI plc also offers an order routing facility to clients via an Application Protocol Interface (API) which allows them to view Select prices, execute trades, and place resting orders. All trading on LME Select is in US dollars. LME Select replaces neither inter-office trading nor trading in the ring. Depending on the time of day, it is possible for members to deal by telephone or electronically in the inter-office market, by LME Select, or in the rings. Clients should specify which mechanism their broker should use to effect an order, where they have a preference. Firm prices of the best bid and offer available on LME Select, the total volumes available at these prices, and the price and volume of each trade transacted are distributed to and displayed in real time by information vendors. Only LME Select prices are displayed, not those of other third party electronic trading system providing LME prices. Only RDMs and ABCMs are eligible to become LME Select Participants and to have direct access to the system. Clients may effect back-to-back client contracts based upon prices available on LME Select, whether on the telephone or via electronic order-routing systems.