The Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX) has been granted “approved exchanged” status by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, making it the first commodity and currency exchange in pan-Asia.
The new status is the final approval to operate as a regulated and licensed exchange.
Jignesh Shah, vice-chairman of SMX, says: “SMX will create a new generation international commodity and currency derivative trading platform on a par with the best global exchanges in New York and London.”
Thomas J McMahon, chief executive of SMX, says: “Today’s development brings SMX a step closer towards revolutionizing the Asian commodities ecosystem. It will empower Asian economies to be ‘price setters’, facilitate the creation of premium Asian benchmarks and effectively position Asia as the centre of global commodity market growth.”
So far, SMX has announced four products, which will be traded when the exchange goes live: a gold futures contract with physical delivery, and contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude oil, Brent-Euro crude oil and Euro-US dollar futures.