April 25 (Reuters) - Brokerage BGC Group's FMX

Futures platform is joining forces with some of Wall Street's

biggest banks and traders to take on leading exchange operator

CME Group.

A group of financial firms including Bank of America ( BAC )

, Citadel Securities, Goldman Sachs ( GS ) and JPMorgan

Chase made minority equity investments into FMX Futures,

valuing it at $667 million, BGC said in a statement on Thursday.

FMX currently offers trading in cash U.S. Treasuries and

spot currencies. In September, it will introduce Secured

Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) futures, followed by Treasury

futures in the first quarter of next year, Howard Lutnick, CEO

of BGC and chairman of FMX, said in an interview.

"CME has 99% of the futures market in America, so they are

the heavyweight champ," he said. "If someone says you can't hit

the champ, they're not paying close attention."

FMX's market share in cash Treasuries is now 28% as it has

competed with CME.

Other minority owners of FMX Futures include Barclays ( JJCTF )

, Citigroup ( C/PN ), Jump Trading Group, Morgan Stanley ( MS )

, Tower Research Capital, and Wells Fargo ( WFC ).

BGC received regulatory approval in January to operate the

futures exchange. The platform aims to compete with CME in the

interest rates derivatives market at a time of high volatility

in bond markets as investors debate the timing of the Federal

Reserve's much-anticipated shift to lower interest rates.

CME Group first quarter profit beat analyst expectations on

Wednesday, helped by record growth in futures and options

contracts tied to U.S. Treasuries.

CME CEO Terry Duffy said his company was in a good position

in comparison to FMX and will benefit from capital efficiencies.

"I've seen nothing but competition in my entire career, so

this is no different," Duffy said on a conference call. "I take

every single bit of competition seriously."

In recent years, brokerages and trading firms have joined

forces to create their own exchanges after balking at rising

fees charged by exchange operators.

"The largest users want both competition for price, and just

as important, competition for innovation," BGC's Lutnick said.

In the run-up to September, FMX will focus on signing up

clients and connecting them to the new platform, he said.

Regulatory changes could also reshape the market. The U.S.

Securities and Exchange Commission in December adopted new rules

aimed at reducing systemic risk in the $27 trillion Treasury

market by forcing more trades through clearing houses.

"Mandatory clearing is a great benefit to the marketplaces

of the CME and FMX because more volume will come into those

cleared marketplaces," Lutnick said.