Thailand Securities Depository’s (TSD’s) board of directors has approved in principle a move to transfer its clearing and settlement unit to a subsidiary, Thailand Clearing House (TCH), and so create one integrated clearing house for a variety of financial instruments. This initiative, to be completed in 2009, is designed to reduce operational costs and make risk management measures more efficient. Currently, TCH handles derivatives clearing only. “The integration will produce a more appropriate fee structure and bring services into line with international standards,” TSD chief executive officer Sopawadee Lertmanaschai says.

Exchange Participants (EP) have become the biggest contributor to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing’s (HKEx’s) derivatives (futures and options) market, driven by the increasing dominance of the stock options segment, finds HKEx’s 2006/07 survey. The contributions from both local and overseas investors, however, are dropping, with local investors contributing 24 per cent to total market turnover compared with 29 per cent in 2005/06, while overseas investors’ contribution has dropped from 23 to 21 per cent.

READ THE REST

Kalahari, provider of real-time price discovery and analytic solutions, has launched an Interest Rate Options Pricing System for the Asia-Pacific region. ICAP is already using the model to help drive accurate pricing and customer retention in Asia, the vendor says.

READ THE REST

Standard Chartered has gone live with Sophis RISQUE to support its new equity derivatives activity, to be based in Singapore and Hong Kong and covering all major Asian markets. The bank has gone live with Sophis’s full front to back offering and is managing its risks in the platform, as well as using the VaR and reporting modules.

READ THE REST

Reval, provider of financial risk management solutions and services, has opened its first Australian office in Sydney to service its existing clients and develop its presence in the Asia-Pacific market – and to meet what it says is a growing regional demand for its derivatives management solution HedgeRx.

READ THE REST

SuperDerivatives, multi-asset derivatives solutions provider for real-time option pricing, independent revaluation, derivatives data, online trading and risk management systems, opened new sales and support offices in Hong Kong and Sydney, in May and June respectively.

READ THE REST

GL Trade, provider of multi-market software solutions, has already taken 10 tier one financial institutions live with its middle office solution GL Clearvision on the Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE), following the introduction of give-ups on May 21.

READ THE REST