FTIL's 3 global exchanges to go live this year

Three international exchanges of the Jignesh Shah-promoted Financial Technologies India (FTIL) are scheduled to go live this year.

Its commodity exchange, the Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX), will go live in August, while the Global Board of Trade (GBOT), based in Mauritius, will start in September. The multi-asset Bahrain Financial Exchange (BFX) would start in October, the group said today. FTIL holds 100 per cent equity in all three exchanges.

FTIL is also the promoter of the Multi Commodity Exchange and the MCX Stock Exchange in India.

BFX will be the first multi-asset exchange offering conventional and Islamic financial products from West Asia, providing an avenue for global market participants.

“This will be an alternate access point for investment options in Shariah-compliant financial instruments and conventional derivatives and cash products,” said FTIL.

SMX will be a pan-Asian exchange offering bullion, base metals, energy, grain and soft agricultural produce, currencies, oil and other financial instruments and commodity indices on its trading platform.

The group plans to promote GBOT as a gateway for the US and Europe to African and Asian markets. The exchange will offer trading in both commodity derivatives and currency. While commodities will include metals, agri-commodities and energy products, the six major currency pairs traded on NYBOT in the US will also be traded on GBOT.

FTIL Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jignesh Shah said, “The Middle East and Africa are among the fastest growing regions in the world and expected to grow at 6-10 per cent annually over the next 25 years. FTIL is the first company whose three greenfield exchanges will go live in the same year. The idea to set up these exchanges was based on the spice and silk routes that used to connect trading communities from Africa, the Middle East and Asia to the world centuries ago.”