ICE Clear Singapore targets Hong Kong brokers

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) plans to attract Hong Kong-based banks and brokers to its Singapore-based clearing house after securing regulatory approval to add Hong Kong clearing members.

ICE Clear Singapore’s authorisation by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong presents a springboard for the firm to widen access to Singapore futures clearing venue, according to the president and chief operating officer of ICE Futures Singapore and ICE Clear Singapore.

“Fresh off the re-opening of the Hong Kong market post-Covid, the authorisation comes at a timely moment as investor and market momentum is rebuilt in Hong Kong and Greater China,” Maria Levanti said in a post. “With business picking up, Hong Kong-based brokers are looking to target customers in North Asia. With access to ICE Futures Singapore, these brokers can offer their customers a cost-efficient way to hedge against risks associated with energy, FX and digital assets.”

ICE Futures Singapore, founded in 2015, predominantly trades smaller size contracts such as a mini US index future and mini Brent future. A year ago, the venue announced the addition of Orient Futures International (Singapore) as its seventh member.

ICE in October 2021 launched micro futures linked to MSCI’s European and US indices in Singapore. The expansion of its equity index product suite brought the total offering to eight contracts at the time.

ICE's only Asian market launched in April 2020 a micro-sized future based on its Asia Tech 30 Index that tracks the 30 largest technology and tech-related firms listed on selected Asia-Pacific exchanges. This was the first ICE contract made available exclusively on the Singapore exchange.

Record commodity options trading boosted ICE's first quarter revenue, the US exchange group said earlier this month.