ICICI Bank joins hands with SMX to provide clearing and settlement  

November 11, 2009

India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank Ltd has said that it has signed a membership agreement with Financial Technologies Ltd's unit Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX). This membership will enable ICICI Bank to provide clearing and settlement processing services to facilitate settlement of transactions executed on SMX, the bank said in a release.

“The association with SMX reflects our focus towards expanding our footprint in the clearing and settlement banking services across the globe. As a dominant market participant in the capital market segment in India, ICICI Bank is now positioning itself to provide its services to SMX and its members," said Chanda Kochhar, managing director and chief executive, ICICI Bank.

This membership will also help ICICI Bank to provide a platform to the commodity market participants in India and abroad to participate on the global commodity exchange.

Noting the important role of the settlement bank in supporting the operations of an exchange, Thomas McMahon, SMX’s chief executive, said, “As an Indian bank with a comprehensive international presence, ICICI Bank is an ideal partner for SMX. The Bank’s leadership in transaction banking and expertise in clearing operations in India would provide convenience to SMX members."

SMX, a wholly owned unit of Financial Technologies, is Asia’s first multi-product global commodity derivatives exchange and offers a state-of-the-art electronic platform for trading futures and options contracts in commodities including precious metals, base metals, energy, agriculture, currency pairs and commodity indices.
-Yogesh Sapkale [email protected]