Singapore Exchange to streamline trading processes with blockchain tech

The use of DLT can bring efficiencies to many aspects of the lifecycle of financial products, from listing and issuing, through to settlement of trades.

Singapore’s stock exchange, SGX, has announced a joint venture with investment firm, Temasek, to use distributed ledger technology to streamline the issuance and trading of financial products listed on its platform.

According to a Jan. 22 report from Nikkei Asia, this will initially consider bonds, funds and sustainable financial products, and may be extended in future to cover other asset classes such as equities.

SGX has previously collaborated with Temasek and banking giant HSBC, in a trial utilizing blockchain technology to issue fixed-income securities. The first results of this trial came in September 2020, with a $300 million bond issuance for local food and agri-business company, Olam International.

This was followed by a further 3 fixed-income bonds issued through the system totalling over 1 billion singaporean dollars ($750 million) in value.

Today’s announcement formalizes the partnership in the creation of a limited company, while extending and expanding the range of the previous trial. Lee Beng Hong, SGX head of fixed income, currencies and commodities, commented on the venture:

“We are very excited to take our digital asset business to the next level in partnership with Temasek.”