Breaking news live from New York: ICE to launch new exchange as Asian focus grows

Intercontinental Exchange Inc (NYSE:ICE) has today privately announced to a very small audience at an invitation-only event in New York that was attended by FinanceFeeds, that it is launching a new exchange on Tuesday of next week.

ICE has bought the trading venue from Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX), a prominent Asian venue.

There will be a number of products available at outset, including a mini crude contract, a gold contract, and currency futures, all of which can be physically deliverable delivered in Singapore.

The event, which is called the Trading Asia Symposium, has been organized by Phillip Capital CEO Teyu Che Chern, and is the first of its kind in New York which follows a very well attended event in Chicago recently.

Speaking to Mr. Teyu Che Chern, Finance Feeds CEO Andrew Saks-McLeod was given a comprehensive insight into the rationale behind the symposium, and very importantly, the correlation between ICE’s acquisition of SMX and its importance to Phillip Capital.

Phillip Capital’s recent foray into the US market, where it has an office in Chicago with 25 staff, echos the firm’s corporate drive to bring Asian exchanges to within easy reach of American traders.

In Asia, and particularly the company’s native Singapore, Phillip Capital is a vast company with a 40 year history, and has, among other aspects, a commercial relationship with ICE. Phillip Capital’s Singapore headquarters is a clearing member of ICE Singapore, whereas Phillip Capital’s Chicago division is a clearing member of ICE in Chicago.

“We have been bringing Asian business to the US for a long time. In the US, our value proposition is that we offer customers a lot of depth in Asia. Phillip Capital has been around for 40 years. We know Asia very well and therefore we can offer customers to know Asia from our US office.”

“At Philip Capital in Asia, we have been doing alot of US business for a long time” explained Mr. Teyu Che Chern. “We thought that maybe we should set up our own clearing firm. We started here about 5 years ago by becoming a clearing member on CME, then on ICE and then on CBOE and NASDAQ Asian futures.”

“We used this structure to clear for Singapore, then after a while we began clearing for customers in the US. The advantage is that you can use Philip Capital in the US to clear into all the Asian exchanges” he said.

“Here at the Trading Asia Symposium, the idea is to get the Asian exchanges to come here to reach out to American customers. Effectively, we bring Asia to you” enthused Mr. Teyu Che Chern.

In terms of ergonomics, it is important to note that by establishing presence in the US, Phillip Capital can offer US traders access to all Asian exchanges via a local single point.

Forex is certainly on the agenda on an off-exchange basis here in the US too. Philip Capital became an FDM and broker dealer. “In other parts of the world we have OTC FX business, with presence in UK, Australia, Turkey, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, whereas our futures business is largely centered around our operations in Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Turkey, India, Dubai and Indonesia. ” stated Mr. Teyu Che Chern.

Photograph: Teyu Che Chern speaks to Andrew Saks-McLeod in New York