It
will be the first of three bourses introduced by the FT Group in 2010. Plans
for a new Singapore-based commodity exchange were first announced in February
2008, and then a 2009 launch was planned.
“SMX,
being a pan-Asian exchange based in the reputed international financial centre
of Singapore, will enable efficient cross-border markets and price discovery in
the Asian time zone and will look to establish benchmark pricings in the East,”
said Thomas McMahon, chief executive of SMX.
A
spokesperson for the exchange in Singapore said it had received certification
from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for 11 commodity contracts, which she
did not name. The exchange is still deciding how many of those 11 will begin
trading on day one. More products will be added later, up to about 30.
SMX
has previously said it would offer “a basket of commodities including bullion,
base metals, energy, grains and soft agricultural produce, commodity indices,
currencies and oil as well as other financial instruments”.
The
spokesperson said the exchange had completed work on its technology. It will
conduct conformance testing with independent software vendors in June and July.
There will be further testing of market participants’ connections in August.
SMX
was granted regulatory approval by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in
December.
At
that time, the exchange said it had granted memberships to 30 trading firms.
The spokesperson would not be drawn this week on how many firms had joined, but
said the exchange was “in the process of signing new members”.
FT
Group then plans to launch the Mauritius-based Global Board of Trade in
September and the Bahrain Financial Exchange in October.
FT
said the Bahrain Financial Exchange would provide “an avenue for global market
participants to access alternate investment options in Sharia-compliant
financial instruments as well as conventional derivatives and cash products”.
BFX
has set up the BFX Clearing and Depository Corporation to clear trades on the
exchange.
The
GBOT is intended to be a gateway for US and European market participants to
African and Asian markets. It will offer trading on six major currency pairs,
precious metals, base metals, agricultural commodities and energy products.
MCX
SX ready for new products
Meanwhile,
FT has finished reducing its equity in the new MCX Stock Exchange through
“divestment and a scheme of reduction of capital”.
The
change is a precursor to the stock exchange winning regulatory permission to
offer equity derivatives and interest rate futures.
The
Securities and Exchange Board of India had demanded that FT and its affiliate
the Multi Commodity Exchange, which originally owned about 60% of the exchange
between them, reduce their holdings by this September. Each now owns about 5%
of MCX SX.
The
exchange, which offers four FX futures, is waiting for regulatory approval to list
new products. It has plans for equities, equity derivatives, interest rate
futures, exchange-traded funds and debt instruments.
A
spokesperson said the exchange was working with SEBI to introduce new contracts
as soon as possible. In June 2009 it applied to offer interest rate futures on
10 year government bonds.