The Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx), China’s global marketplace, announces today that China Xin Yongan Futures Company Limited has been approved as a broking member, making it the fifth member to join HKMEx in 2012, on the heels of Jefferies Bache’s admission last week as a clearing member of the Exchange.
The HKMEx membership gives China Xin Yongan access to HKMEx’s state-of-the-art electronic platform for trading a range of commodity futures contracts in a transparent and liquid environment, and based on international market conventions. As a broking member, China Xin Yongan will be able to trade for its own account, or on behalf of clients.
China Xin Yongan is a joint venture between Hong Kong’s Sun Hung Kai Financial and Zhejiang’s Yongan Futures – one of China’s top three futures brokerages.
“Our membership on HKMEx marks an important step in the continual internationalisation of Yongan Futures,” said Jiang Linqiang, President of China Xin Yongan. “We are excited to become a broking member as this expands our product offerings to include HKMEx’s successful US-dollar gold and silver future contracts, as well as its upcoming renminbi products with global trading appeal. We look forward to working with the Exchange to build a stronger presence in Asia and around the world.”
HKMEx President Albert Helmig said, “With steady rise in volumes on HKMEx, we are seeing not only increased trading participation, but also strong interest in membership from brokerage firms and financial institutions both regionally and around the world. We are pleased to have China Xin Yongan on-board as our newest broking member. With extensive network and customer base in the mainland, the addition will no doubt further deepen participation in our market.”
The addition of China Xin Yongan takes the number of members on HKMEx to 27, including five clearing and 22 broking members.
HKMEx currently trades two contracts. They are a 32 troy ounces (1-kilo) gold futures contract and a 1,000 troy ounces silver futures contract. Both are denominated in US dollars, with physical delivery. The Exchange plans to launch a renminbi-denominated gold futures contract, along with other precious metals. Also in the pipeline are renminbi contracts in copper and other base metals. Other planned products include futures contracts in energy, agriculture, and commodity indices.