• HSI and HSCEI Futures and Options to be enhanced from 4 December, subject to regulatory approval
• Long-dated contract months to be introduced for HSI and HSCEI Futures
• Additional long-dated contract months to be introduced for HSI and HSCEI Options  

 

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) announced today (Friday) that it plans to introduce long-dated contract months for its Hang Seng Index (HSI) and Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) Futures and increase the long-dated contract months for its HSI and HSCEI Options, with maturities up to 5.5 years, on Monday, 4 December 2017, subject to regulatory approval.

The planned changes include:

• adding five December contracts for HSI and HSCEI Futures;
• adding two December contracts and stop introducing the last June contract¹ for HSI Options (long-dated contracts will increase from five to six); and
• adding three December contracts for HSCEI Options.

HSI Futures, HSI Options, HSCEI Futures and HSCEI Options are HKEX’s flagship products and accounted for 43 per cent of the total derivatives volume at HKEX in the first nine months of this year.

"These additional long-dated contracts will be useful for investment banks, portfolio managers and other market participants in managing their counterparty risk," said Romnesh Lamba, HKEX's Co-Head of Market Development.  "The benefits of exchange-traded  futures and options include the efficiency of centralised trading and clearing services.

"These changes are in response to market feedback and we will continue to consider ways we can further enhance our derivatives market."

Current and planned contract months are shown in the table below.

Current and Planned Contract Months

Additional information is available in a circular that was issued today and has been posted on the HKEX website.

 

¹ On the last businessday of November 2017, the June 2021 contract for HSI Options will not be introduced.

 

Example of Contact Months after Planned Changes

HSI and HSCEI Futures

HSI and HSCEI Options

 

Ends