倫敦金屬交易所盯上中國交易員

倫敦金屬交易所（LME）的持有人近來盯上了中國的大宗商品交易員。中國國內的交易所出現了過度投機的情況，所以LME計劃於明年在中國大陸建立實物金屬交易平台。

香港交易清算所在2012年收購了LME，公司的首席執行官查爾斯·李表示，擬在青海建立交易平台，用LME式的倉庫系統為實物金屬的運輸提供支援，從而與潛在的經濟形勢保持密切的聯繫。

他在新加坡舉辦的金融時報大宗商品亞洲峰會上指出：“該平台主要針對實體用戶。該平台針對的是大宗商品交易者。”

今年初，中國湧現了一群大宗商品期貨投機者，使得商品價格出現飛躍式增長，讓人不得不思考中國日益增長的零售投機者對全球大宗商品市場的影響。LME的計劃也因此而生。

上海鋼筋期貨合約是建築行業產品中的佼佼者，在交易所增加交易費用並規勸某些成員之前，該產品位列四月全球大宗商品期貨合約交易第三名。

新平台的發佈可能會引發香港交易所 (HKEx) 和中國國內交易所的競爭，比如：上海期貨交易所和大連商品交易所。

李先生表示，雖然HKEx的大陸現貨金屬交易所無法提供大宗商品的期貨合約，但對於需求實物金屬的銀行和對沖基金來說，這個平台仍有很大的吸引力。

他說：“除了期貨交易我們什麼都做，因為我們拿不到期貨交易的牌照。”

由於中國這個世界最大的金屬消費國的政策限制，HKEx想在中國建立一個“類似”的倉庫系統還需要很多年。

但是青海交易平台已經獲得了深圳當地政府的支援，深圳政府將持有交易所的一部分。李先生說，他希望這個平台最終同LME連通，允許外匯投資者進入中國的實物金屬市場。

他說：“我們會盡快找到方法來連通這兩個倉庫系統。”

李先生說，由於中國大陸的交易所運營缺乏信任，LME在中國的北方港口城市青島建立倉庫系統後，LME將有機會進一步擴張中國業務。

HKEx將把倉庫系統建立在人流聚集的商業區，並建立一個倉單中央系統。他們計劃在十月份進行倉庫測試，系統正式發佈時間為明年五月。

LME owner targets China’s commodity traders

The owner of the London Metal Exchange aims to target Chinese commodity traders concerned by speculative excesses on the country’s domestic bourses, with plans to establish a physical metals trading platform in mainland China next year.

Charles Li, chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, which bought the LME in 2012, said its planned exchange in Qianhai would make sure prices remained tied to the underlying economy by underpinning it with an LME-style warehouse system for the physical delivery of metal.

“This is a platform for physical users,” he told the FT Commodities Asia Summit in Singapore. “This is a platform for people who trade commodities. The whole idea is not another financial speculation forum.”

The move comes after a surge in speculative activity in Chinese commodity futures caused prices to jump earlier this year, raising questions about the influence of China’s growing number of retail speculators on global commodity markets.

The Shanghai steel rebar futures contract, a niche product for the construction industry, briefly became the third-most traded global commodity futures contract in the world in April before exchanges stepped in to raise transaction fees and discipline some members.

The launch of the platform is likely to bring HKEx into competition with China’s domestic futures exchanges such as the Shanghai Futures Exchange and the Dalian Commodity Exchange.

Mr Li said that while HKEx’s Chinese spot metals exchange was unlikely to offer commodity futures contracts it would still seek to attract banks and hedge funds to the platform that wanted to trade directly in physical metals.

“We want to do everything short of trading futures, we don’t believe we will get a licence for that,” he said.

HKEx’s plans to establish a “lookalike” warehouse system come after years where the LME struggled to launch LME-branded warehouses in China — the world’s largest consumer of metals — because of government restrictions.

But the trading platform in Qianhai has won the backing of Shenzhen local government, which will part own the exchange. Mr Li said he hoped to eventually connect the platform to the LME and allow foreign investors to invest in China’s physical metals markets.

“Very quickly we are going to find ways to connect the two warehouse systems,” he said.

Mr Li said the 2014 scandal around metals stored in non-LME warehouses in Qingdao, a northern port city, had opened an opportunity for the LME to try to expand in China due to the lack of trust in mainland warehouse operators.

HKEx will have warehouses located near consumer locations as well as a central system for warehouse receipts. They plan to test the warehouses in October, and launch the system commercially by May.

本文翻譯由兄弟財經提供
文章來源：http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7f240472-7344-11e6-bf48-b372cdb1043a.html