The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has acquired Project MARS, a solution for real-time trading system reporting, from software and consulting services provider First Derivatives.
Designed to capture every message in the SGX trading engines and provide real-time and historical reporting functionality, MARS went live for equities on 15 August, the same day SGX rolled out its Reach trading engine, which the exchange claims is the world’s fastest.
MARS is intended to make SGX trading information more accessible to its users, with the data kept in a historical database. The solution will be expanded to the derivatives markets in the coming months.
SGX saw its derivatives and OTC clearing volumes increase in October, while its securities trading volumes fell 38% compared with 12 months earlier, to S$28 billion. Derivatives volume increased 11% year on year to 5.9 million contracts, while average daily volume for derivatives rose 17% to 304,088 contracts.
The volume of OTC commodity contracts cleared by SGX rose 45% from a year earlier to 26,037 contracts. Clearing of OTC interest rate swaps also increased, with S$11.4 billion cleared in October.
SGX is also seeking to grow its listings business in India and announced the hire Neena Prasad as senior vice president to head its listings business there.
Prasad, who took up her new role on 1 November, will lead the company’s efforts to attract listings from India, reporting to Lawrence Wong, executive vice president and head of listings at SGX.
Prior to joining SGX, Prasad was with Morgan Stanley New Delhi. She has extensive experience in the private and investment banking industry in India with global financial institutions including GE Capital, Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup and Bank of America.
“With Neena’s vast experience in the Indian market, she can able promote SGX as the listing venue of choice in South Asia to businesses seeking international exposure,” said Wong.
SGX recently expanded its trading hours by removing its traditional lunch break, on 1 August 2011. The exchange also revised its minimum bid-ask spreads as part of its Reach technology initiative.