MAS grants final approval to Singapore Mercantile Exchange

Approval seen as milestone towards creation of a pan-Asian exchange from Singapore.

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has granted “Approved Exchange” (AE) status to Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX), the final approval to operate as a regulated and licensed exchange. SMX is the first pan-Asian multi-product commodity and currency derivatives exchange, according to a MAS report.

Mr. Jignesh Shah, Vice Chairman of SMX and Group CEO, Financial Technologies Group, said, “SMX will create a new generation international commodity and currency derivative trading platform at par with best global exchanges in New York and London. The development also stands testimony to FTIL’s domain knowledge and technological expertise in creating next generation financial markets. The approval from MAS is a significant milestone towards realizing SMX’s vision of creating a pan-Asian exchange from Singapore, one of the world’s most respected and reputed international financial centres and the best IFC from the East.”

Mr. Thomas J. McMahon, Chief Executive Officer of SMX, said, “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.”

To date, SMX has announced four products which will be traded when the exchange goes live - a Gold Futures Contract with physical delivery, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude Oil, Brent-Euro Crude Oil and Euro-US Dollar Futures Contracts. It also recently concluded the successful market-wide testing of its electronic trading platform, risk management and clearing & settlement systems.