GFI Asia Partners, a subsidiary of financial technology firm BGC Partners (NASDAQ: BGCP), announced today that it has acquired a majority stake in GFIGS Commercial Consulting to provide OTC derivatives brokerage service.
According to the official press release, the newly established joint venture in China will enable GFIGS to offer services in Iron Ore derivatives at the start. The company aims to expand services to add other trading products in the future.
GFI announced the joint venture with partner firm, Guizhou Big Data Capital Service Centre, a data commercialization company based in China. Further, GFI outlined that the new venture will be headquartered and registered in Shanghai.
The company aims to extend its partnership with Guizhou Big Data Capital to expand services. Moreover, GFI plans to take advantage of the growing OTC Derivatives market of China as the Iron Ore futures trading volumes have grown significantly in the last few years.
"We are delighted with the establishment of GFIGS to offer OTC brokerage services in China. Iron Ore futures trading volumes in China are more than 20 times larger than the offshore market. With Guizhou Big Data Capital's extensive network and coverage of China's financial markets and GFI's experienced voice brokerage and best-in-class trading technology, we are able to comprehensively serve our clients' needs in China,” Benny Luk, CEO Greater China at BGC Partners said in a statement.
World’s Largest Steel Market
China became the largest market for the metals industry in the past few decades. Asia’s largest economy has seen a rise in demand for steel and iron ore products. The new venture plans to facilitate traders with iron ore derivatives.
"China is the world's largest steel market and iron ore consumers. GFI is one of the world's largest iron ore brokers and is also an active participant in shipping and energy markets. We anticipate that this joint venture with GFI will become an opportunity for both sides to cultivate the Chinese market for a long time. We believe that through close cooperation running through the ferrous metals industry, the two sides can make good use of the platform of Shanghai Clearing House to actively develop customers,” He Xuan, Chairman at Guizhou Big Data Capital, mentioned in the press release.
