Trading of the options contract (OKLI) commenced on 21 May 2012, with a total of 27 options contracts traded (15 call and 12 put options contracts traded).

Dato’ Tajuddin Atan, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia and Chairman of Bursa Malaysia Derivatives said, “In line with the growing sophistication of the local derivatives market, we are re-introducing the OKLI to capitalise on the significant growth of the equity index options market in Asia Pacific.”

“Options are highly versatile instruments that provide flexibility for various trading strategies, and can offer trading opportunities even during non-volatile market conditions. We expect increased volume from the new trading activities as options can be actively used to complement investments in the futures and the equity market.”

The original OKLI, launched in December 2000, was the first exchange-traded options contract in Malaysia and used the FBM KLCI cash index as its underlying instrument. The underlying instrument was replaced with the FBM KLCI futures (FKLI) in order to facilitate more efficient hedging with futures. The revamped OKLI is listed and traded on the CME Globex electronic trading platform as part of the partnership with CME Group.

Bursa Malaysia has embarked on awareness and educational programmes to highlight the benefits of options trading and its opportunities to market participants and members of the public.

Mitsubishi UFJ Appoints Trent Hagland as President & CEO

Trent Hagland will also be a members of the newly formed International Management Committee, chaired by Cliff De Souza, Principal Executive Officer of MUSHD.

Yasuo Hamakake, CEO, Chi-X Japan

Chi-X Japan HRC offers Chi-X Japan trading participants a customizable set of pre-trade risk controls – including notional limit, lot size, tradeable stock lists and max shares – for their clients.
“As participant needs continue to evolve and risk controls remain a critical component to their work flow, we are pleased that early adopters like Credit Suisse will be able to offer this service to their clients,” said Yasuo Hamakake, CEO, Chi-X Japan.

“We are thrilled to have been involved with Chi-X launching this innovative new solution in Japan. HRC enables us to provide our clients with the most direct low-latency access in the market without compromising our commitment to comprehensive risk control,” said Ross Whittaker, the head of product management for Japan at Credit Suisse’s Advanced Execution Services unit in Tokyo.

The world’s first offshore Indonesian equity futures, the new contract is based on the MSCI Indonesia Index which is a widely followed Indonesian benchmark for institutional investors.

Indonesia’s GDP grew 6.3% for the first quarter of 2012, the second highest growth rate in Asia after China.

“SGX currently offers the widest suite of Asian equity index derivatives. We are confident that the SGX MSCI Indonesia Index Futures provides a unique value proposition to regional and international investors from both portfolio and risk management perspectives,” said Mr Michael Syn, Head of Derivatives at SGX.

SGX has signed up three market makers: Barclays, Credit Suisse and Optiver to provide both on screen and off screen liquidity.

“Credit Suisse is very pleased to be supporting SGX in the development of its MSCI Indonesia Index Futures as one of the pioneer market makers. We believe there is great growth potential for these futures based on the Indonesian market given the strong demand for exposure to Indonesia and the need for a robust hedging instrument. With the inclusion of another key Asian economy in its product suite, SGX is clearly strengthening its position as an Asian Gateway, providing efficient and convenient access to regional markets,” said Mr Manuel Schlabbers, Head of Index and ETF Trading, Asia, Credit Suisse.

Andreas Preuss, Deputy CEO Deutsche Börse

In accordance with the MoU, the two exchange organizations are to start a comprehensive sharing of knowledge and information on business areas and regulatory developments. Further elements of the co-operation agreement include joint training and education initiatives, as well as an employee exchange program and regular visits from each exchange’s senior management.

“We are very pleased to have signed this agreement with CFFEX and look forward to deepening our relationship with leading institutions and authorities of China’s financial markets,” said Andreas Preuss, Deputy CEO Deutsche Börse and CEO of Eurex, the derivatives arm of Deutsche Börse.

At the meeting, Mr. Kono gave notice that he would step down from the position in March 2013. The Board elected Greg Medcraft, the Chairman of the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC), to take over as Board Chair after Mr. Kono stepped down. It was agreed that this transition would take place at the Board meeting in Sydney in March 2013, so that Greg Medcraft would assume the position of Chair from the end of that meeting till the meeting of the Board at the IOSCO Annual Conference in September 2014 in Rio de Janeiro.

The Board also appointed two Vice Chairs: Dr. Vedat Akgiray, Chairman of the Capital Markets Board (CMB) of Turkey, and Ethiopis Tafara, the Director of the Office of International Affairs at the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr. Kono is the Vice Commissioner for International Affairs at the Financial Services Agency of Japan (JFSA), and has served as Chairman of the IOSCO Technical Committee since 2011. As part of a streamlining of IOSCO’s organizational structure, the new Board was constituted at the Annual Conference through a three-way merger of IOSCO’s Technical Committee, the Executive Committee and the Emerging Markets Committee Advisory Board.

Mr. Kono has a long career in financial supervision and regulation, both in Japan and in the international arena, since joining the public service in 1978. Prior to his present position, Mr. Kono served as Deputy Director-General of the Supervisory Bureau, and as Director of a number of divisions in the JFSA including Supervisory Coordination, Banks Division 1, Credit Systems and International Affairs.

Mr. Kono is currently Acting Chairman of the Monitoring Board of the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRSF), where he represents the JFSA. Since 2005, he has been a Visiting Professor at University of Hiroshima.

Mr Medcraft was appointed Chairman of ASIC in 2011, following two years as Commissioner. Mr Medcraft spent nearly 30 years in investment banking in Australia, Asia, Europe and Americas, including a period as Managing Director and Global Head of Securitisation for Société Générale in New York.

Jane Milner, Sungard

Each day the JSFC publishes the borrow requirements of market participants so that holders of stocks can submit their best offers in an effort to capture those lending opportunities. However, many lenders rely on time consuming and error-prone manual processes to match each opportunity with available securities.
Apex JSFC Trade Manager automates the bid submission process, helping lenders save time, increase accuracy and reduce costs. Analytical tools help traders determine the best quantity and fee for each stock and make more accurate and timely bids. Users can also take dividends into account and utilize decision support tools to help optimize their P&L in the auction process and facilitate funding/financing trades when they are looking to generate cash through the transaction.

Delivered on an ASP basis, Apex JSFC Trade Manager is easily integrated with any stock borrowing and lending system for straight through processing or run as a standalone solution.

Jane Milner, head of strategy for securities finance and enterprise collateral management for SunGard’s capital markets business, said, “The Japan Securities Finance Corporation’s daily stock lending process is a time-critical event that involves lending hundreds of stocks, analyzing current positions and assigning fees. SunGard’s Apex JSFC Trade Manager automates this process to help securities lenders capture the maximum revenue from Japanese lending opportunities and save time and costs.”

In addition, daily volume for crude palm oil futures (FCPO) contracts also charted a historical high of 63,019 contracts on Wednesday, surpassing the previous record of 48,741 contracts on 17 November 2011.

This is attributed to increased hedging activities resulting from the volatility and uncertainty seen in global financial and palm oil markets.

Cecelia Zhong, Head of Greater China Business Development, NYSE Liffe

GF Futures is a leading player in the Asian derivatives market and through its membership of NYSE Liffe, clients of GF Futures can now access the Exchange’s European markets through its colocation facilities based in NYSE Euronext’s European Liquidity Centre.

“We are delighted to welcome GF Futures not only as a member of NYSE Liffe, but also as our first Asian based colocation customer” said Cecelia Zhong, the Head of Greater China Business Development, NYSE Liffe. “Asia has been identified as a strategic priority for the group, and we are reinforcing our commitment to the region, as well as our obligation to support a global trading infrastructure for our European contracts, by providing premier products and services, such as colocation, to our Asian customers.”

“Colocating servers in NYSE Euronext’s European Liquidity Center allows us to expand our business further into European markets” said Dr. XIAO Cheng, General Manager of GF Futures. “Through our colocation offering and acting as their broker, we have already brought access to our first High Frequency Trading customer, a major player in the Asian markets, who will be trading the European interest rate Euribor contract and European equity index futures.”

NYSE Liffe opened its Hong Kong office in December 2011, headed by Cecelia Zhong, to further strengthen the group’s strategic exchange alliances in China and Hong Kong, as well as to generate new business and better serve its existing customers in the region.