The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has received some eight applications for the Commodities Exchange’s expressions of interest (EOI) which the regulator had called in early April, according to stock brokers.
“Malaysian, Indian and a British party are amongst the applicants,” one broker told the Business Times. He said that SEC called for international EOI on Commodities Exchanges in newspaper advertisements in early April to establish and operate a fully fledged multi asset class Commodities Exchange with a foreign party. “All the parties applied with a local partner,” he said.
It was however not clear whether the SEC has still zeroed in on an international consultant whom they had internationally advertised for some two months ago to evaluate these bids for the Commodities Exchange. The Commodities Exchange is a Finance Ministry proposal, according to SEC. The source added that the Ministry of Finance will appoint a technical evaluation committee and the SEC will call consultants to assist this committee and grant them technical expertise.
The advertisement said that prospective parties should possess a track record of more than five years in establishing and operating such exchanges. They should also have at least US$ 100 million in shareholders funds/net assets and local parties may submit an EOI with a foreign party. The SEC official said that such exchanges, which holds assets such as stocks, commodities, or bonds are operated on margins, meaning that to take a position only a fraction of the total value of the commodity traded needs to be available in cash in the trading account.
The Business Times reported that SEC is working towards setting up a Commodities Exchange last October.
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