Brunei to launch its 1st securities exchange

Asian Economic News, May 13, 2002

SINGAPORE, May 9 Kyodo

Brunei will launch its first securities exchange later this year, officials said Thursday.

The Brunei Finance Ministry granted a license this week to a Singapore-owned company, International Brunei Exchange Ltd. (IBX), to operate the exchange.

IBX is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nesdex Pte Ltd., a Singapore-based company, which has already invested about S$10 million over the last year to lay the groundwork for the exchange.

The funds were raised mainly through the company's shareholders -- the Industrial Bank of Taiwan and Taiwan's Aurora Group.

The exchange is expected to start operations in the fourth quarter of this year, said Nesdex Chairman Yong Boon Chung, a 32-year-old Singaporean.

It will provide an e-financial network of trading hubs to create a consolidated pan-Asian trading platform, while also offering financial instruments that are compliant with sharia or Islamic law.

Derivative products will be introduced first, namely about 25 single-stock futures contracts of blue chip firms from South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.