SGX Trading Members Form Association Of Financial And Commodity Traders (Singapore)

Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) and a group of its Trading Members are pleased to announce today the official launch of the Association of Financial and Commodity Traders (Singapore) (AFACT). The association aims to create a unified platform to represent the interests of professional derivatives traders with SGX membership, previously known as ‘locals’, and improve the knowledge, efficiency and understanding of the financial industry through increased interaction with market practitioners and joint collaboration with industry partners.

A key focus for AFACT will be professional training. Together with the members of the inaugural AFACT Executive Committee, SGX has already launched the professional trader training programme under SGX Academy in January 2009, as part of a stepped-up effort to attract new traders to the industry as well as enhance the capabilities of existing traders.

The aim is to create a pool of new-generation traders equipped with top-tier capabilities in executing complex trading strategies and who possess speed of execution, as well as strong trading psychology and discipline. The programme will be further supported by a mentorship scheme for new trainers to learn from industry veterans.

The members of the inaugural AFACT Executive Committee are:

"With the increasing complexities and sophistication of the financial markets, derivatives traders need to come together to better understand and manage our risks and rewards as full-time trading professionals. This is especially important as markets go international and are increasingly inter-dependent. AFACT aims to serve that purpose by increasing the sophistication and knowledge of our traders, and working with the relevant agencies to promote the interests of Singapore’s capital market," said Mr Ng Tee How, President of AFACT.

"Professional traders are critical to the liquidity of exchange-traded derivative markets. We saw this in the 1980s when the locals helped SIMEX to take off, and to become today the derivative arm of SGX," said Mr Ng Kok Song, Group Chief Investment Officer, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC). Mr Ng was the founding Chairman of the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX), which subsequently merged with the Stock Exchange of Singapore in 1999 to form SGX.

"Trading Members have always played an important role in helping provide liquidity to our market. The overall community of traders has grown from 430 since the closure of the trading floor in 2006 to 720 today. We will work with AFACT to double this number to 1,500 within three years," said Mr Hsieh Fu Hua, Chief Executive Officer of SGX.

More details of AFACT can be found at http://afact.org.sg