CME Group Inc, the world's largest futures exchange, predicts "great growth" in Asian derivatives as the economy expands, Executive Chairman Terry Duffy said.

"That's one of the reasons I'm here," Duffy said in an interview in Hong Kong yesterday. "We're making certain that the CME continues to expand its business outside the US. We need to get involved."

CME Group said last month it would buy a 25 percent stake in Bursa Malaysia Bhd's derivatives unit and license its palm oil settlement prices to tap hedging demand for the world's most-traded vegetable oil. Developing Asian economies will grow 6.2 percent this year and 7.3 percent in 2010, according to International Monetary Fund forecasts.