FOW can reveal the first part of the results of its Awards for Innovation 2009: the Awards for Exchanges, Clearing Houses and Law Firms. The Awards for Banks, Brokers and FCMs and for IT and Software Companies will be declared in December.

Futures and Options World’s Awards are taking a different form this year. Rather than trying to pick the best firms in various fields, we are highlighting one of the most distinctive and vital aspects of the derivatives markets: their capacity to innovate.

It is this ability, more than any other, that has fashioned the market we know today – so radically different from the one that existed even 20 years ago.

Financial innovation has acquired a bad name in some circles in the past two years – and some innovations certainly have caused huge problems. But that does not mean people should shy away from trying to improve the way markets work, and even from inventing new markets.

A willingness to try new things – indeed, a constant search for improvements – will be even more vital as the markets enter a phase of tighter regulation and higher public prominence.

Indeed, two of the innovations featured in our Awards, the Intercontinental Exchange’s European and US clearing houses for credit default swaps, were created specifically in response to a regulatory demand to derisk the market.

Each of FOW’s Awards for Innovation 2009 is for a specific project, product or market practice that was both innovative and had a beneficial effect on the market.

To be eligible for these 2009 awards, each innovation had to have been commercially introduced during the year from April 2008 to March 2009.

Companies submitted their projects in the form of a 500 word statement, with up to two pages of supporting information. These were then circulated to a panel of judges, all market participants with relevant expertise, who decided the winners.

FOW would like to thank our readers and contacts in the market for their enthusiastic response to the Awards: the companies that submitted nearly 50 innovations, and our expert judges, who have given up their time to consider the applications and choose the most worthy.

We hope you enjoy the Awards, which we believe constitute a valuable analysis of a year of vibrant activity in the derivative industry, by highlighting the developments that have most impressed the market.

Click on Awards to read the results.