CFETS-ICAP International Money Broking Co. resumed broking yuan swaps and forwards last Monday, just over a year after it and another broker were stopped from broking them by China’s foreign exchangeregulator.
CFETS-ICAPis understood to be the first interdealer broker to receive a license from the State Administration for foreign exchange (SAFE). The license allows the firm to broker yuan-denominated swaps, forwards and cross-currency swaps an ICAP spokesperson tells Squawkbox.
While the firm received the green light to trade non-yuan swaps in February this year, China’s regulations exclude brokers from trading on the country’s foreign exchange spot market.
CFETS-ICAP is a joint venture formed in 2007 by ICAP and the China Foreign Exchange Trade System & National Interbank Funding Center, or CFETS the trading platform and clearinghouse run by the People’s Bank of China.
In late February last year, CFETS-ICAP and Tullett Prebon SITICO (China), a joint venture between Tullett Prebon and Shanghai International Trust & Investment Corp., were stopped from providing quotes due to compliance reasons. Brokers said at the time that they were operating in a regulatory grey area where the rules under which they could do business in China didn’t bar them from broking swaps, but SAFE hadn’t explicitly issued rules regulating how it was to be done (Squawkbox, 25 February, 2008).
Under new regulations, money brokers must post the price of all transactions publicly on China’s CFETS trading platform, and report the details of all transactions to CFETS at the end of the day.
Tullett Prebon SITICO (China) Ltd., the other money broker that applied for a license, has reportedly yet to receive it. The company declined to confirm this or comment.
Source: Squakbox 30.03.2009
Filed under: China, Exchanges, News, Trading Technology, CFETS China Foreign Exchange Trade System, China 中国, Currency, FX Foreign Exchange, Icap, Trading System, Tullett Prebon
