CME has opened an Asian telecommunications hub in Singapore.
Three customers: Refco Trading Services, a division of Refco (Singapore) Pte Ltd; Phillip Futures, a major Singapore futures commissions merchant; and GL TRADE, a certified independent software vendor and data center, are now connected to the CME Globex electronic trading platform via this new hub. Last year, CME launched six hubs in key European financial centers following the opening of the inaugural hub in London in January 2002.
“For over 20 years, CME has been the leader in partnering with Asian exchanges, officials and market participants to foster the growth of exchange traded derivatives in this important region,” said CME Chairman Terry Duffy. “In 1984, we were the first to initiate a mutual offset agreement with the Singapore Exchange. We recently established memorandums of understanding with the Shanghai Futures Exchange, Shanghai Stock Exchange and China Foreign Exchange Trade System & National Interbank Funding Center to pursue the potential development of futures products relevant to the Chinese marketplace. Our Singapore hub is the latest example of CME’s longstanding commitment to expand the reach of our products worldwide.”
“CME’s Singapore hub is a key part of our global growth strategy and builds on the success of CME Globex, which is the most widely distributed derivatives electronic trading platform in the industry,” said CME Chief Executive Officer Craig Donohue. “This launch is a significant achievement against our competition and allows CME to benefit from current business activity and prepare for future growth. With this hub now operational, CME is well positioned to take advantage of what we believe will be rapid growth throughout the Asian financial markets in the next decade, where in 2004 it was estimated that 36 percent of the world’s exchange-traded derivatives volume was generated.”
Customers using the Singapore hub will connect to CME Globex via circuits ordered through CME-approved local telecommunication vendors. Customers will determine the bandwidth size for their connections, as well as the number and type of circuits.