At a recent meeting of the FIA Asia, the organization approved application of the Shanghai Futures Exchange for Regular Membership in FIA Asia.

Founded in 2007, FIA Asia was created by FIA focusing on promoting development of the Asian-Pacific futures market.

FIA Asia has more than 40 members of 3 different types at present, comprising exchanges, financial institutions, brokerage firms and IT companies. FIA Asia’s missions include functioning as the regional thought leader on cleared derivatives; providing exchanges and regulators within the region with information on industry best-practices; organizing events and conferences addressing major market issues and promoting industry consensus.

The Shanghai Futures Exchanges (SHFE) is the first Mainland-China-based exchange to become a member of FIA Asia. SHFE joined FIA (Futures Industry Association) in 2002.

Nick Ronalds, Executive Director at FIA Asia, says that: “As we all know, futures markets and other cleared derivatives continue to grow in importance in the broader financial marketplace, amid great market and regulatory uncertainty around the world. In this environment, FIA Asia’s role and usefulness to its membership is sure to continue to increase. In addition, China’s futures markets, its exchanges, and market participants will doubtless continue to grow in prominence and, with time, become increasingly integrated in the global marketplace. We believe this will be to everyone’s benefit.”

It’s believed that the joining of FIA Asia will further promote the influence and voice of SHFE in Asia-Pacific region and is in line with the goal set in the exchange’s five-year plan for 2008-2012, that is, to become a major futures market in Asian-pacific time zone that hosts the trading of bulk commodities such as bases metals, precious metals, energy and chemicals etc. It will facilitate the utilization of international experience and resources, enhance its competitiveness and internationalization so as to better serve the national economy by providing a marketplace for price discovery and risk hedging.