It will be the first of three bourses introduced by the FT Group in 2010. Plans for a new Singapore-based commodity exchange were first announced in February 2008, and then a 2009 launch was planned.

“SMX, being a pan-Asian exchange based in the reputed international financial centre of Singapore, will enable efficient cross-border markets and price discovery in the Asian time zone and will look to establish benchmark pricings in the East,” said Thomas McMahon, chief executive of SMX.

A spokesperson for the exchange in Singapore said it had received certification from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for 11 commodity contracts, which she did not name. The exchange is still deciding how many of those 11 will begin trading on day one. More products will be added later, up to about 30.

SMX has previously said it would offer “a basket of commodities including bullion, base metals, energy, grains and soft agricultural produce, commodity indices, currencies and oil as well as other financial instruments”.

The spokesperson said the exchange had completed work on its technology. It will conduct conformance testing with independent software vendors in June and July. There will be further testing of market participants’ connections in August.

SMX was granted regulatory approval by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in December.

At that time, the exchange said it had granted memberships to 30 trading firms. The spokesperson would not be drawn this week on how many firms had joined, but said the exchange was “in the process of signing new members”.

FT Group then plans to launch the Mauritius-based Global Board of Trade in September and the Bahrain Financial Exchange in October.

FT said the Bahrain Financial Exchange would provide “an avenue for global market participants to access alternate investment options in Sharia-compliant financial instruments as well as conventional derivatives and cash products”.

BFX has set up the BFX Clearing and Depository Corporation to clear trades on the exchange.

The GBOT is intended to be a gateway for US and European market participants to African and Asian markets. It will offer trading on six major currency pairs, precious metals, base metals, agricultural commodities and energy products.

 MCX SX ready for new products

Meanwhile, FT has finished reducing its equity in the new MCX Stock Exchange through “divestment and a scheme of reduction of capital”.

The change is a precursor to the stock exchange winning regulatory permission to offer equity derivatives and interest rate futures.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India had demanded that FT and its affiliate the Multi Commodity Exchange, which originally owned about 60% of the exchange between them, reduce their holdings by this September. Each now owns about 5% of MCX SX.

The exchange, which offers four FX futures, is waiting for regulatory approval to list new products. It has plans for equities, equity derivatives, interest rate futures, exchange-traded funds and debt instruments.

A spokesperson said the exchange was working with SEBI to introduce new contracts as soon as possible. In June 2009 it applied to offer interest rate futures on 10 year government bonds.