CWT unit gets licence for commodity exchange, clearing house in Indonesia

INTEGRATED logistics and supply-chain solutions provider CWT's financial services arm, Straits Financial Group, has obtained regulatory licence from Indonesian regulators to operate a physical commodity exchange and a dedicated clearing house in Indonesia.

The physical exchange will be branded separately as Asia Commodity Marketplace (ACM), which plans to offer an "organised market place" for local producers and international market participants to transact directly and negotiate anonymously over an electronic platform, CWT said in an announcement to Singapore Exchange.

This will allow market participants to access a larger pool of counterparties to trade physical commodities and settle the transactions through the clearing house. Market participants can expect cargoes to be delivered through secured bonded warehousing facilities, both inland and along major seaports in Indonesia, operated by warehouse operators including CWT.

"A physical exchange is a natural business extension for Straits . . . it taps on our commodity logistics competency and expertise in operating physical delivery and warehousing for various commodity exchanges," said CWT group chief executive Loi Pok Yen.

ACM plans to roll out a suite of agricultural products in 2017 such as cocoa, coffee, rubber, soyabean and sugar, said ACM chief executive Arwadi Setiabudi.