THE TICKER // CHICAGO

Maker of Beanie Babies to expand The Beanie Babies craze is helping the economy along the Interstate55 corridor. Oak Brook-based Ty Inc., which makes the toys, isleasing 270,000 square feet of warehouse and distribution space at305 Crossroads Parkway in Bolingbrook. The building will replacesmaller quarters the company has in Westmont, said executives ofGrubb & Ellis Co., which negotiated the lease on Ty's behalf. Theyalso said Ty may expand its operations in Bolingbrook by another100,000 square feet.CBOT clearinghouse buys insuranceThe Board of Trade Clearing Corp. said Tuesday it has obtained a$100 million default insurance policy from AIG Combined Risks Ltd.The corporation, the independent clearinghouse of the Chicago Boardof Trade, said it is the only such operation in the futures businessto carry the insurance as well as a AAA debt rating. The insurancewill be used in the event of a catastrophic default by a member firm,which hasn't happened in the clearinghouse's 72-year history.CNA forms insurance risk divisionCNA Financial Corp. said it has formed a division that willspecialize in insurance risks. Named Hedge Financial Products, theunit will be run by executives of Chicago-based Centre FinancialProducts Ltd., including Richard Sandor, second vice chairman of theChicago Board of Trade. Sandor will be chairman of both Hedge andCentre. In addition, CNA said Anthony Chiarenza will be Hedge'schief executive officer and Joseph Cole will be chief operatingofficer. Sandor said CNA bought Centre's assets but that the companywill continue to operate, focusing on environmental contracts in thefutures business.First Chicago offers Internet tradingFirst Chicago NBD Corp. said Tuesday its brokerage unit has launchedan Internet-based trading service. Stock and option trades conductedthrough the service will receive a 25 percent discount on the regularcommissions of First Chicago NBD Investment Services Inc. Forsecurity reasons, customers need an Internet browser with 128-bitencryption to use the service, called FCNIS Online. It is availableat www.fcnis.com or through First Chicago's home page atwww.fcnbd.com.First Albany opens Chicago officeFirst Albany Corp., a New York-based brokerage and financial servicefirm, said Tuesday it has opened an office in Chicago, the company'sfirst in the Midwest. It is at Citicorp Center, 500 W. Madison.Appointed to run the office was Michael Stoken, 56, former seniorvice president and sales manager for Oppenheimer & Co. "In anutshell, it is Chicago's economic vitality and diversity which makeit an attractive site for our continued growth," said First AlbanyPresident Alan Goldberg.