Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) will install a new Nasdaq OMX-supplied platform next year to support its derivatives market.
From Q4 2013 HKEx will update its HKATS trading engine and DCASS clearing system to Nasdaq OMX’s Genium INET technology.
The agreement included a five-year extension of an existing support contract that HKEx has with the US exchange operator. HKEx has used Nasdaq OMX technology to support its derivatives market since 1994.
The new platform will support trading and clearing of stock futures and options, currency futures, interest rate futures, fixed income futures, commodity futures, volatility index futures and dividend futures. It will also offer microsecond latency and throughput improvements, according to Nasdaq OMX.
"Our adoption of the Genium INET technology will move our long and fruitful partnership with Nasdaq OMX into the next phase and strengthen the global competitiveness of the Hong Kong capital market,” said Bill Chow, chief technology officer at HKEx.
The Hong Kong exchange has identified improvements to technology as one of the key priorities in its three-year plan that was initiated in March 2010.
In March 2012, HKEx unveiled Orion, a US$380 million technology improvement programme that included the development of a new data centre at Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O industrial estate and improvements to connectivity and market data. The bourse also upgraded its proprietary equities trading platform at the end of last year.