StanChart picks up 3% stake in USE

Standard Chartered Bank (Mauritius) has picked up a 3% stake in the United Stock Exchange (USE), thereby becoming the first foreign bank to invest in the Exchange.

USE currently operates in the currency derivatives space and offers currency futures in all the four currency pairs permitted by Sebi. T is one of the only two stock exchanges in India to offer currency options on the USD-INR currency pair, a press release issued here stated.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Exchange already boasts of an illustrious list of shareholders comprising all 21 public sector banks, two public sector units, six leading private sector banks and corporate institutions like the Bombay Stock Exchange.

"This investment perhaps reflects the perception of a top bank as to the good prospects of USE in time to come," said USE Managing Director & CEO T S Narayanasami in the release.

The Exchange is a unique public-private partnership with equity investments by both PSUs and the private sector. The Bombay Stock Exchange is also a strategic partner with the USE as it holds a 15% stake and all its members are connected to the new USE platform, it added.