Reuters reported that Singapore Exchange SGXl SI is planning to add another three contracts to the set of metal products it offers in partnership with the London Metal Exchange.

The bourse has already been offering mini contracts in copper, aluminum and zinc futures in conjunction with the LME since February this year.

Mr Magnus Bocker CEO of SGXI said that "We see quite a careful take-up on those kind of products and we hope to add another three metal contracts in the not too distant future although he didn't specify which metals they would be.

Mr Bocker said that SGX was planning to begin offering central clearing for FX forwards in "the next few months. Several market players have said the FX forward clearing could be launched as early as June although the exchange is waiting to ensure its interest rate swap clearing business is running smoothly before moving to new products.

He said that you need to get through the interest rate swaps, have them cleared, everyone familiar with it and all the technology up and running before we move on to the next product.

SGX is hoping to take advantage of the global regulatory move to push as many over the counter derivatives through central clearing as possible. It became the first Asian exchange to offer clearing of over the counter derivatives in November last year and says it has cleared almost USD 80.1 billion worth of Singapore dollar interest rate swaps since that launch.

(Sourced from Reuters)