OREANDA-NEWS. CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced that Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. has been formally granted the status of Recognised Clearing House (RCH) by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) with effect from 18 May 2016. 

With this Recognised Clearing House status, the clearing house division of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., CME Clearing, is now able to sign up direct clearing members from Singapore for clearing of both exchange-traded futures and options, as well as over-the-counter derivatives. In addition, with the implementation of MAS' proposal to mandate clearing for interest rate swaps later this year, including Singapore-dollar and US-dollar-denominated swaps, Recognised Clearing House status will permit local market participants to fulfill their clearing obligations in these instruments with CME Clearing.

"We are delighted to be granted the status of Recognised Clearing House by the MAS," said Sunil Cutinho, Senior Managing Director, and President of CME Clearing.  "This complements the Automated Trading Services (ATS) status granted to our clearing house by the SFC in Hong Kong in August 2015, and we are pleased to be able to provide our clients and members access to clearing services across multiple asset classes and jurisdictions."

"This is an important milestone in our growth strategy in Asia Pacific," said Christopher Fix, Managing Director, and Head of Asia Pacific, CME Group.  "Singapore is a key international financial centre, and we are excited to be able to play a crucial role working in close partnership with market participants and further support our member firms in meeting their clearing obligations."