Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) announced today that SGX AsiaClear® has exceeded US$4.7 billion in value of trades cleared in 2007, and secured over 160 trading counterparty accounts to-date. Compared to 2006, this represents a more than 12-fold increase in value of trades cleared1 and more than doubling of counterparty network2 .
In recognition of its market participants, SGX AsiaClear is presenting awards to its top over the counter (OTC) inter-dealer brokers and clearing members at a reception this evening. The awards will be presented by Guest-of-Honour, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Minister of State for Finance and Transport.
Mr Benjamin Foo, SGX Head, Clearing, Commodities and AsiaClear, said, “SGX AsiaClear registered strong growth in our first full year of operation in 2007, with a sharp increase in clearing activity and growth in counterparties. We will work more closely with market participants to introduce further initiatives to grow the OTC business in Asia.”
SGX AsiaClear’s rapid development was recognised by the industry in the form of two awards last year. SGX received the Exchange of the Year - Asia Award from Energy Risk magazine, in recognition of SGX AsiaClear’s contribution to the OTC energy derivatives market. SGX AsiaClear also received the Energy Business Award for Excellence in Energy Trading and Risk Management.
SGX AsiaClear is Asia's first and only OTC clearing service for oil swaps and forward freight agreements (FFAs). With its growing pool of Asia-based trading counterparties, SGX AsiaClear is also beginning to see more interest from European players who are keen to trade with Asian partners. Its unique suite of products, such as Balance-of-Month contracts on Fuel Oil, Gasoil and Kerosene, has also contributed to the rising market interest.
1 Average monthly value of trades cleared in 2007 was more than US$3
2 SGX AsiaClear had 65 counterparties at end-2006.