The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (U.S. CFTC) has allowed the buying or selling of Bursa Malaysia Derivatives' Kuala Lumpur Composite Index Futures Contracts (FKLI) by U.S. persons with immediate effect.
Dato' Tajuddin Atan, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia Berhad and Chairman of Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, said, "We are very pleased with this development as it means that U.S. investors will now have the opportunity to buy or sell our index-based futures product, the FKLI. This significant milestone will provide a boost to the growth of our derivatives market.
"We believe that the decision to allow the buying or selling of FKLI by U.S. persons will have a spill-over effect for our equities market as investors in the U.S. will be able to hedge their positions in the derivatives market," he said.
In 2010, the CFTC permitted member brokers of Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad to solicit and accept orders and customer funds directly from U.S. customers without having to register separately as futures brokers. As such, ten Malaysian futures brokers that have already received recognition from the U.S. National Futures Association to solicit and accept orders and customer funds directly can now offer FKLI to U.S. based customers.
The ten futures brokers are: AmFutures Sdn Bhd, CIMB Futures Sdn Bhd, HDM Futures Sdn Bhd, JF Apex Securities Bhd, Kenanga Deutsche Futures Sdn Bhd, LT International Futures (M) Sdn Bhd, Okachi Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Oriental Pacific Futures Sdn Bhd, OSK Investment Bank Berhad and TA Futures Sdn Bhd.