DBS announced on June 21 that it has commenced trading as a Category 4 member on the London Metal Exchange (LME) – the world’s leading platform for the trading of industrial metals.
DBS is the first bank in Asia to be issued a membership with LME outside of London. Its Category 4 membership means that it must appoint a designated clearing member to clear trades on its behalf.
With the new membership, DBS’ corporate clients in Singapore, China, India, Indonesia, Korea and Hong Kong will have access to the bank’s suite of hedging and financial solutions to support the needs of metal businesses.
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In addition, the membership will complement DBS’ existing Commodity Structured Trade Finance capabilities, which include complex tolling, inventory and pre-shipment finance.
“With Asia leading the world’s global growth, the LME membership is a critical and necessary step for us to enhance support to our corporate clients, enabling them to access an international, robust and regulated metals market, through DBS,” says Andrew Ng, group head of treasury and markets. “This offers our clients access to the exchange’s world-wide network of warehouses, providing an efficient hedging venue for metal trades done in their preferred market.”
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Tan Su Shan, group head of institutional banking, points out that the push for a lower carbon economy globally will continue to drive demand for non-ferrous metals, given the need for efficient and affordable electricity storage.
“The LME membership will provide our clients in the metals and mining space with the option to access sustainably-produced metal, such as low carbon aluminium, as well as metals that play a significant role in global decarbonisation and the circular economy, such as materials used to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs) and scrap metals,” Tan explains.
The LME, owned by the Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing (HKEX), has a global warehouse network of over 600 approved storage facilities across 33 locations in Europe, USA and Asia.
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As at 9.23am, shares in DBS are down 13 cents or 0.44% lower at $29.77.
Photo: Bloomberg
