Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. reported a 34% increase in net income for the third quarter.

The CME reported a 22% increase in total revenues to US$275 million and a 34% increase in net income to US$104 million for third-quarter 2006 compared with third-quarter 2005.

Average daily volume reached 5.4 million contracts during the quarter, a 28% increase from third-quarter 2005. Trading on the CME Globex electronic trading platform grew 32% to 3.8 million contracts per day, meaning electronic volume represented 71% of total CME volume in the quarter.

Total third-quarter options volume averaged 1.3 million contracts per day, up 39% compared with third-quarter 2005. Electronic options volume averaged a record 148,000 contracts per day for the quarter, nearly tripling from the same period a year ago, and representing a record 12% of total CME options volume in the quarter.

“After concluding another impressive quarter, we announced our proposed merger with the Chicago Board of Trade, which will create the world’s leading derivatives exchange,” said CME chairman Terry Duffy. “Building on our successful common clearing agreement, this merger will enable us to provide customers more diverse and innovative products across all asset classes, increased operational efficiencies, wider global distribution and unsurpassed liquidity. It will strengthen our ability to compete going forward and help maintain Chicago’s position as the center of global risk management.”

“Our strong financial results in the third quarter were driven by solid execution in our core business,” said CME chief executive officer Craig Donohue. “During the quarter, we continued to deliver impressive volume growth compared to third-quarter 2005, with each product line up by more than 25%. In addition, we significantly increased NYMEX volume on the CME Globex platform during the quarter to more than 11 million contracts traded, and we increased the number of FXMarketSpace early adopters, which now include the 16 of the top 20 FX banks in the world.”

Clearing and transaction fees increased 23% to US$217 million, up from US$176 million for third-quarter 2005. Revenue from processing services rose 36% to US$24 million and quotation data fees were up 7% to US$20 million.

Total expenses increased 11% to US$118 million, driven by increased compensation-related, technology maintenance and licensing expenses.