NEW YORK, Aug 16 (Reuters) - CME Group, the world's largest derivatives exchange, appointed Paul Houston as global head of foreign exchange products and announced other changes to the business on Wednesday.

Houston, who oversaw CME's futures business for seven years, will now run a single unit comprising CME's FX futures, options, cash and over-the-counter businesses.

Houston will be responsible for CME's FX derivatives markets and EBS cash markets as it seeks to become more efficient and expand client trading opportunities.

Jeff Ward, global head of EBS, will leave CME Group in September after being appointed to the role in 2019, the exchange said.

Tim McCourt, head of financial and over-the-counter products, said the exchange is aiming to unify its FX businesses. It bought EBS from NEX Group for almost $5 billion in 2018.

"This new structure is the last step in that process and one that, we believe, will benefit our FX clients globally," McCourt said in a statement.

"Paul is a proven leader who has played a key role in expanding our FX futures and options business," in which average daily volume rose 24% to 985,000 contracts last year, he added. (Reporting by Laura Matthews; Editing by Lananh Nguyen and Josie Kao)