A Product for the Masses

Fri, May 10, 2013

By publisher

4 MIN READ

The Global Board of Trade in Mauritius launches first international multi-asset bourse to help small time investors

|  By Maureen Chigbo  |  May 20, 2013 @ 01:00 GMT

A PRODUCT that will enable small investors with as little as $20 trade on the bourse has been established in Mauritius. The Global Board of Trade, GBOT, the first international multi‐asset bourse from Mauritius, has successfully launched contracts for difference, CFDs, May 7. Contract for Difference means a standardised derivative traded on GBOT where a buyer and a seller agree to exchange the difference in value of a particular underlying asset between the time when the contract is opened and when it is closed.

CFDs are leveraged instruments that allow traders to hold large positions on commodities, currencies, equities and indices with a small margin deposit. Traders can take advantage of both rising and falling markets. The standardised GBOT CFD contracts will offer enhanced transparency, no counterparty risk, high return potential, low entry threshold and no levy of overnight rollover and open interest charges. The launch of CFDs on GBOT makes it the first exchange in Africa and second in the world to introduce CFDs.

GBOT CFDs will replicate the spot price performance of underlying assets and give traders and investors easy and seamless exposure to dollar denominated currencies, commodities, equities and indices. The introductory CFD contracts on GBOT will include GOLD (1 Troy Ounce), WTI Crude Oil (10 Barrels), EUR/USD (1000 Euro) and GBP/USD (1000 GBP).

The small-sized products are launched with the objective of taking markets to the masses by allowing the investor to trade with as low as $20. As the market matures, GBOT will scale up its operations along with its CFD product portfolio to suit the preferences of its members and aid their business expansion.

Clairette Ah-Hen, chief executive, Financial Services Commission, Mauritius, said: “The launching of CFDs represents yet another milestone in our financial services landscape as it will enable both local and overseas investors, be it individual or institutional, to diversify further their investments. CFDs may bring more value-addition by enabling investors to take advantage of both rising and falling share prices. Small investors too will be able to trade on CFDs, given the low capital entry requirement. The overall result will be enhanced liquidity and buoyancy in the market, thereby attracting more international buyers and improving the visibility of our jurisdiction.”

Jignesh Shah, chairman and managing director, Financial Technologies Group, India, and vice-chairman of Global Board of Trade, said: “The launch of CFDs on GBOT reinstates our vision of taking Wall Street to the Man on the Street. We have been successfully implementing our model of organised markets for the masses from Asia to the Middle-East and are committed to lead the development of African Financial Markets with GBOT.”

Commenting on the launch of CFDs, Rinsy Ansalam, managing director and chief executive officer, GBOT, said: “A key ingredient towards a vibrant capital is product innovation and the launch of CFDs is yet another initiative of GBOT that will democratise markets and allow the smallest investor to participate. The target market range of this segment includes fund for  houses, traders, students, house wives and people with no finance background. As a CFD pre-launch initiative, GBOT has conducted over 50 workshops to educate over 500 participants on its features and advantages. Through education, we are simplifying financial markets for the masses.”

Global Board of Trade Ltd., GBOT, is the first international multi-asset bourse from Mauritius that offers participants, from across the globe, access to a tech centric market that is regulated, liquid and transparent with efficient clearing and settlement systems. GBOT’s state of the art infrastructure provides a world class platform for risk management, trading and investment on global and the African products.

The bourse is licensed and regulated by Financial Services Commission, FSC, Mauritius, to offer trading in commodity derivatives, currency derivatives, equity cash and equity derivatives. The current product offering of the bourse includes commodity derivatives, currency derivatives and CFDs.

GBOT is promoted by the Financial Technologies Group, a global leader in setting up and operating tech-centric next generation exchanges in the emerging but fast growing economies from Africa to Asia and Middle East to South-East Asia.