ICICI to act as clearing bank for SMX

ICICI Bank on Wednesday entered into an agreement for clearing and settlement banking membership of Singapore Mercantile Exchange.

This will enable ICICI Bank to provide clearing and settlement processing services to facilitate settlement of transactions executed on SMX, a statement said.

The membership will also facilitate the bank to provide a platform to the commodity market participants in India and abroad to participate on a global commodity exchange, it said.

"This association reflects our focus towards expanding our footprint in the clearing and settlement banking services across the globe. . .ICICI Bank is now positioning itself to provide its services to SMX and its members," ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar said.

SMX is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Financial Technologies, which is a leading player in creating and operating exchange platforms.

The exchange provides state-of-the-art electronic platform for trading futures and options contracts in commodities. These include precious metals, base metals, energy, agriculture, currency pairs and commodity indices.

Presently, ICICI Bank is acting as a settlement banker for the National Stock Exchange, Bombay Stock Exchange, National Commodities & Derivatives Exchange and Multi Commodity Exchange.