The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Group (HKEx), whose companies include the London Metal Exchange (LME) and LME Clear Limited, announced today that LME signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) ) with China Merchants Group Limited (CMG) and China Merchants Securities Co. Limited (CMS) on October 22, 2014, for a strategic alliance in product development and related services for market users.
The London venue already has a solid basis of cooperation with official Chinese financial institutions when Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai visited the LME on Thursday, September 2014. During his official trip to the United Kingdom for the sixth UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue, they signed an MOU with the state owned China Construction Bank Corporation.
"This MOU is an important step for HKEx Group and China Merchant Group companies as we look to develop new products and services to complement our existing businesses," said HKEx Co-Head of Global Markets, Romnesh Lamba. "The MOU also demonstrates our continued commitment to expanding the LME's business and user base in Asia."
"The MOU entered into today marks a critical new milestone for our overall cooperation in the future with particular focus on examining the feasibility of establishing LME listed warehouses, by leveraging the unique strength of China Merchants Group in the logistics and warehousing sector in China and the strategic role of LME as the world’s leading base metals trading marketplace," said Dr Yu Liming, Executive Vice President of CMG.
"The signing of this MOU marks the beginning of China Merchants Securities's strategic collaboration with the LME to explore the provision of cross-border commodity derivatives products as well as other initiatives in order to support the globalisation of RMB and reinforce the strategic proposition of London as a key offshore RMB centre," said CMS Chairman, Gong Shaolin.
"We see this strategic cooperation as an important step to implement China Merchants Group's strategy of integrating its industrial and financial services capability," added Wang Yan, CEO of CMS.
