Jorge Alegría Formoso, chief executive of Mercado Mexicano de Derivados, is heading for Huatulco, a tourist resort in southern Mexico. But instead of taking some time off, he is attending the annual convention of Mexican pension funds. As Alegría explained when FOW caught up with him, he is relentlessly working to attract new market participants to MexDer, and pension funds, known as Afores (Administradoras de Fondos de Retiro), are the country’s largest institutional investors. They are increasingly given permission to use a wider range of financial products, presenting a big opportunity for MexDer. On October 1, President Felipe Calderón proposed allowing Afores to invest freely in stocks, which would involve using single stock options. The reforms, which also include allowing Afores to invest in infrastructure and IPOs, have yet to be approved by the National Commission for the Pension System (Consar) and by Banco de Mexico, the country’s central bank. “This is very...