ICICI Bank to act as clearing bank for SMX

The country's second-largest lender, ICICI Bank, today entered into an agreement with the Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX) for providing clearing and settlement processing services to traders on the exchange.

The deal would also see the bank provide a platform to the market participants in India and abroad to trade on a global commodity exchange, a press release said.

The agreement between the two will enable ICICI Bank to provide clearing and settlement processing services to facilitate settlement of transactions executed on SMX, the release said. "This association reflects our focus towards expanding our footprint in the clearing and settlement banking services across the globe...ICICI Bank is now positioning itself to provide its services to SMX and its members," ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar said.

SMX is a wholly owned arm of Financial Technologies, a leading player in creating and operating exchange platforms. The exchange provides electronic platform for trading in futures and options contracts in commodities, including precious metals, base metals, energy etc.

At present, ICICI Bank is acting as a settlement banker for the National Stock Exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Commodities & Derivatives Exchange and the Multi-Commodity Exchange.