CBOE chairman and CEO William Brodsky announced the plans at the company's first European risk management conference in Dublin.

"Our customers have access to the most comprehensive array of volatility products in the world, and we continually work to create new, more flexible ways for them to trade these products. Around-the-clock hours for VIX Index futures and a CFE London hub offer the ultimate in flexibility," Brodsky said.

He said the hub will provide European firms with a cost-efficient way to send and receive CFE data and to execute trades on the exchange.

The 24-hour session will accommodate investment banks, proprietary trading firms, hedge funds, Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) and issuers of exchange traded products that want to establish or offset VIX Index futures positions, with few time limitations.

Though CFE has yet to establish a launch date for the new VIX Index futures hours, the exchange's technology team is currently working to put the plans in place, states Brodsky.

"We are fortunate that CBOE Command, our state-of-the-art trade engine technology, was developed totally in house," Brodsky told the conference. "Because we control our own technology, we can program our systems to adapt to different product types and market models, upgrade capacity requirements - and now, institute substantially expanded VIX Index futures hours -- to accommodate our customers."

The move cements London's status as European hub for worldwide derivatives trading. It follows the CME's decision in August to apply to the Financial Services Authority for derivatives exchange status in London.

Writing in the CME's house magazine, the Exchange's managing director for Emea, William Knottenbelt, points out that 20% of the group's trading volume is now emanating from Europe.

"London's strength is its deep reservoir of professional talent, its robust infrastructure and the benefit of a time zone which is centrifugal to the US, Asia and the Middle East," he writes, explaining the decision to locate in London. "CME Group's move underlines the importance of creating a locally regulated entity offering regional products in a compatible time frame to regional customers - a key part of our international expansion strategy."