OMFinancial Ltd Becomes The First New Zealand based Dairy Futures Broker

NZX is delighted to announce that OMFinancial Ltd (OMF) has become the first New Zealand based broker to provide customer access to the NZX Dairy Futures market.

OMF has gained approval as an Advising Participant under the new NZX Derivatives Market rules, and joins the ranks of global institutions who have been trading New Zealand’s Dairy Futures since late last year.

“NZX is thrilled to welcome OMFinancial Ltd to the NZX Dairy Futures market. OMF has a long history as experienced brokers of futures, foreign exchange, equities and carbon products, and has been an NZX accredited futures and options firm since 2004,” said Fiona Mackenzie, Head of Markets at NZX.

“OMF's decision to join the NZX dairy derivatives market is another vote of confidence in a set of risk management tools that continue to become more liquid by the day,” said Mackenzie. 

OMFinancial Ltd’s Managing Director Brian Watt is proud to be the first New Zealand owned and operated broker to provide access to the NZX Dairy Futures Market. “OMF has been part of the New Zealand financial landscape for over 20 years and understands the importance of creating sound financial instruments that can not only enhance the returns of New Zealand’s milk producers, but also offer more price certainty for them,” said Watt. 

“New Zealand is a world leader in agriculture and OMF sees no reason why we shouldn’t embrace derivatives to enhance our already world beating product. Commodity derivatives have been used with great success for hundreds of years around the world so this provides a real opportunity for New Zealand to be the world leader in the Dairy Futures market, as we are in the physical market,” said Watt.

NZX launched Whole Milk Powder Futures on 8 October 2010 and Skim Milk Powder Futures and Anhydrous Milk Fat Futures on 18 February 2011. NZX Dairy Futures have quickly become the most actively traded global risk management tools for dairy, with trading volumes continuing to grow.

Last week’s trading volumes hit record levels, with 115 contracts traded. NZX Dairy Futures have now traded a total of 683 contracts since their launch.