Bursa Malaysia Derivatives (BMD) won the "Best Technology Innovation by an Asian Exchange" award and emerged runner-up
in the "Asian Derivatives Exchange of the Year" award category at the Futures and Options World Award ceremony held in Singapore yesterday.

Factors that contributed to the recognition included, easy accessibility and global connectivity of the Malaysian derivatives market, a statement by Bursa Malaysia Bhd today said.

BMD had implemented several technological enhancements over the last two years, including migration to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's GLOBEX Trading Platform, and hosting an Order Management System to move domestic futures brokers to a CME-certified broker front-end system.

It also launched a new Derivatives Clearing System with multiple
functionalities and capabilities with a SPAN risk-based margining system.

As part of its market development drive, Options on the FKLI was re-launched and a new product, Options on Crude Palm Oil futures contract (OCPO) was subsequently launched in July 2012.

"Derivatives is becoming well accepted as a tradable and hedging product that create opportunities and we see huge potential in this market.

"The partnership with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group has indeed assisted our growth story.

"This award recognition, clearly validates the economic path that Malaysia has taken to globalise the derivatives market," the Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia and BMD Chairman, Datuk Tajuddin Atan said.

Tajuddin said the strong support from the Ministry of Finance, Securities Commission, Bank Negara Malaysia and Trading Participants have been key to transitioning Malaysia into a regional and global marketplace. Bernama