Leo Melamed, chairman emeritus of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, has been named honorary dean of the China Institute of Financial Derivatives at Peking University. Melamed, who intends to be making trips to China and giving an occasional lecture at the university, expects the Chinese derivatives market to develop in leaps and bounds this year. "We might think of it as slow from Western standards, but I think they have moved very quickly," he said, noting the opening of a derivatives exchange last year as an example. "All the work the CME and others have been doing is having a very positive effect."
Melamed described the students as "the best of the best" and noted the establishment of an institute for derivatives education in the country is in itself a "Huge, huge sign in favor of a market economy."
