W hen FOW Global Investor Group presented the FOW International Awards at a ceremony held in London on December 6, SGX Group was awarded “Global Exchange of the Year”.We sat down with Alison King, Head of Trading and Clearing Services, Equities, at SGX Group to learn more about the win.
Congratulations on this prestigious award and recognition of SGX Group as a leading global exchange.In your view, what are the main factors for SGX’s success?
We see this award as a recognition of our innovation across products, platforms, and partnerships – pushing new ideas that enable market participants around the world to navigate markets with confidence.
A confluence of macro factors has been driving heightened risk management and hedging activities on SGX.For our customers, choosing the right venue with deep liquidity is critical.Whether it is in equities, FX or commodities, our clients know they can count on us to deliver a risk-management toolkit that stays relevant through the highs and lows.
As the world’s most liquid international market for the benchmark equity indices of China, India, Japan, and ASEAN and for Asian FX futures, as well as the global price discovery center for a wide range of commodities, we have seen record derivatives volumes across asset classes this year.
The judges’ commented that SGX’s leadership in Chinese equities and RMB futures, further strengthened by a broadening product suite across crypto and carbon, leaves SGX strategically well-positioned to become the regional liquidity hub for those new products.What values can SGX offer in a broader ecosystem of transaction services, beyond traditional financial assets?
We develop our service offering through a customer lens.
That means constantly engaging with clients and always being there to help them solve problems, which is possible only when there is trust.A case in point being our pioneering SGX FTSE China A50 Index futures, for which we have built a deep ecosystem, one that simply cannot be replicated overnight.
Given our experience in providing robust financial infrastructure and connectivity, and running highly liquid markets, we see opportunities to apply our strengths in growing areas such as carbon markets and digital assets.From traditional financial assets to new products, our mission is to serve as the most trusted and efficient international marketplace, and as the exchange partner of choice.
SGX and Nasdaq have a close and long-running technology partnership as SGX operates both its trading and clearing on Nasdaq technology.How would you say that technology plays in to SGX’s success?
Technology is key to creating a seamless and consistent experience for our customers, while offering innovation, stability and security across our business and partner ecosystem.We are constantly looking at how we can improve the resiliency and agility of our technology – not only to give our market participants confidence in the reliability and availability of our multi-asset platforms, but to also future-proof our business and enable new growth opportunities for both SGX and our customers.
Finally, what excites you about the future? Are there any specific initiatives or projects that you would like to highlight?
For SGX, awards recognize past achievements.What is more important is to look ahead and work with our customers and partners to further scale and grow together.
As portfolio-management needs evolve, we are sharpening our product suite to stay at the forefront of global investing trends including Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and climate investing.We are also expanding our international network and connectivity as part of our value proposition to connect the world to Asia and Asia to the world..
