Delays plague opening of futures exhange
Delays plague opening of futures exhange
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Futures Exchange (JFX) has again
failed to commence trading as the Commodities Exchange
Supervisory Board (Bapepti) has delayed the issuance of its
operational license.
Bapepti said on Friday that the JFX should again delay its
inaugural trading until it completed the required documents and
properly prepared all the trading procedures.
"The operational license will be issued when all requirements
needed for the trading are properly presented," the agency said
in a statement.
The JFX must amend some documents regarding trading
regulations and guidelines, contracts and the clearing mechanism.
Bapepti, which studied the JFX's preparation documents with
help from a former Kansas City Futures Bourse and a foreign
information technology expert, urged the JFX to refine the
trading standard mechanism, including the delivery of commodities
to be traded.
Bapepti said the JFX management should involve more
professional brokers and futures trading experts in drafting its
trading regulations and procedures.
JFX director Rico Menayang said last week the futures exchange
was technically ready to start trading activities on Sept. 1 as
most of the necessary preparations had been completed.
The JFX, which was previously set to open in March, will
initially trade crude palm oil and robusta coffee.
Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil after
Malaysia and is a major producer of coffee.
Traders say the JFX will help make both markets more
transparent and will give them an alternative to Malaysia. At
present, Indonesian traders and producers hedge their commodities
on the Kuala Lumpur Commodities Exchange.
Rico said the bourse would include other commodities like
pepper, plywood, cocoa and rubber in its trading next year and
financial trading instruments like foreign exchange, interest
rates and government bonds later on.
The JFX was founded in mid-1992 by four palm oil plantations,
seven palm oil refineries, eight securities companies and two
general trading companies, and has authorized capital of Rp 40
billion (US$5 million) and paid-up capital of Rp 11.6 billion.
It was initially scheduled to start trading in March. But
installation problems with its computer system forced the bourse
to postpone trading to July, which then dragged on to September.
The idea of introducing futures trading here has been aired
since the early 1990s, but it was not implemented immediately as
the government was concerned about the possibility of speculators
distorting the market.
Bapepti said an independent auditor would examine the
condition of all facilities involved in the bourse before finally
awarding the license to the JFX. (cst)