LONDON: The London Metal Exchange will go ahead with planned reforms that seek to funnel more trading onto its electronic system to boost liquidity, it said on Friday.
The exchange, the world's oldest and largest market for industrial metals, decided to adopt all the measures that were introduced last September, with some modifications after consultations.
The 148-year-old LME plans to implement them in February and March next year, it added in a statement.
A key element of the new measures is moving small block trades - privately negotiated deals with brokers - to the LME electronic system to increase volumes on a single date per month.
Most futures exchanges have a single expiry date for monthly contracts, but users of the LME can trade each day, set up to enable physical users to tailor their deals to metal deliveries.
The LME, owned by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. , argues that this system often dilutes liquidity over many dates and the reforms will help focus some of it.
Another reform is about private deals, known as over-the-counter trades, which the LME had said in September it wanted to move onto its electronic trading system.
But in April, the exchange dropped those proposals requiring private bilateral deals between members and clients to be traded on its platform and said it would instead raise fees for those contracts that use LME prices.
The LME on Friday confirmed the decision on OTC trades and published new fees that will apply from October this year. - Reuters
