China Financial Futures Exchange signs MoU with Moscow Exchange
Shanghai, July 23, 2015 — China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX) and Moscow Exchange (MOEX) today announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU aims to strengthen bilateral partnership and facilitate the development of both parties through information sharing, reciprocal visits by senior executives, staff exchange and closer business cooperation in various areas. The MoU was signed by Zheng Hu, CEO of CFFEX and Alexander Afanasiev, CEO of MOEX. Shenfeng Zhang, Chairman of CFFEX and Sergey Shvetsov, First Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Russia, also attended the signing ceremony.
Shenfeng Zhang said: "With the State Council clearly emphasizing the importance of further developing financial derivatives in China in its 2015 annual government work report, CFFEX presses on with its efforts to facilitate the healthy and regulated growth of China's financial futures market. To that end, it is crucial to draw on advanced overseas experience and strengthen cross-border communication and cooperation so as to seek global development. The signing of this MoU will further cement the relationship between CFFEX and MOEX, generating new opportunities for the two exchanges to step up cooperation in the common pursuit for development."
Alexander Afanasiev said, "In recent years China has become Russia's biggest trading partner, and that cross-border commerce is increasingly settled in our national currencies. Likewise, Yuan-Ruble trading on Moscow Exchange has grown rapidly, increasing sevenfold last year alone. In response to client demand, we also launched Yuan-Ruble futures trading earlier this year, and in just a few months the instrument has become a core offering on our FX derivatives platform. Today"s MoU with CFFEX is the first step in exploring new opportunities for cooperation on various fronts."
Notes for editors:
The CNY/RUB currency pair is one of the fastest-growing instruments traded on Moscow Exchange. Volumes for the pair increased 130% in the first half of 2015, with an average daily trading volume of RUB 1.6 bln. Eight market makers maintain Chinese yuan market liquidity and more than 130 banks and brokerage firms trade the currency. The Hong Kong dollar also began trading on Moscow Exchange in late 2014.
Moscow Exchange continues to develop relationships with financial institutions in China, one of the largest sources of capital globally. Moscow Exchange signed cooperation agreements with Bank of China in late 2014, and with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in July 2015; the objective of both agreements is to develop programs that over time will provide Russian and Chinese investors access to a wider range of financial instruments denominated in RUB and CNY. The Exchange has additionally signed memorandums of understanding with the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges.
About CFFEX
With the approval of the State Council and the authorization of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX) was jointly founded by Shanghai Futures Exchange, Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange, Dalian Commodity Exchange, Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange on September 8, 2006 in Shanghai. Having successfully launched five products, i.e. CSI 300 stock index futures, SSE 50 stock index futures, CSI 500 stock index futures, 5 year government bond futures and 10 year government bond futures, CFFEX is now working to further expand its product offering to cover stock index options, foreign exchange futures and interest rate futures. In 2014, a total of 218 million contracts were traded at CFFEX. According to 2014 FIA Annual Volume Survey, CSI 300 stock index futures ranked the 4th most actively traded stock index futures worldwide.
About Moscow Exchange
Moscow Exchange provides comprehensive and convenient access to the Russian financial markets. The Exchange's markets offer clients trading opportunities across a diversified range of asset classes all combined with best-in-class post-trade services. The Exchange is the main liquidity and price discovery centre for Russian instruments, hosting trading in equities, bonds, derivatives, currencies, money market instruments and commodities. The Group also includes Russia's central securities depository, National Settlement Depository, as well as National Clearing Centre, which performs the function of central counterparty. Moscow Exchange ranks among the world's top 25 exchanges by total capitalization of shares traded, and also among the 10 largest exchange platforms for bonds and derivatives trading.
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