The Minister for Financial Services & Regulation, Joe Hockey, today welcomed the announcement by the Sydney Futures Exchange and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited of a strategic initiative to develop derivative trading and clearing services.
"Today's announcement by SFE and HKEx is an extremely positive step. Globalisation means that financial markets in the Asia Pacific need to find ways of working together to build regional liquidity, boost efficiency while preserving market integrity," the Minister said.
The SFE and HKEx announcement is a continuation of the principles agreed at a roundtable meeting in December between Minister Hockey and Stephen Ip, the Hong Kong Secretary for Financial Services, where they discussed the potential for greater linkages between the Australian and Hong Kong financial services industries.
The meeting was also attended by senior bureaucrats, exchange executives and regulators from both countries.
At this meeting the Ministers resolved to set up working groups to investigate greater co-operation in a range of areas.
These included cross-border fundraising, intermediary licensing [including examination of competency and training regimes], market and clearing licensing, and enhancing the strong relationship between the HK Securities and Futures Commission and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in areas of training, enforcement and surveillance.