迴避正面競爭的新交所和港交所
On the anniversary of his appointment as head of the Singapore Exchange this month, Loh Boon Chyemight have highlighted the fact that the group’s own shares were outperforming the benchmark, or the potential in its merger talks with London’s Baltic Exchange. But a technical malfunction halted trading and produced the worst outage in the bourse’s history.
在最近羅文才(Loh Boon Chye)擔任新加坡交易所(Singapore Exchange)首席執行官滿一週年之際，他本來可以強調該公司本身的股票跑贏大盤，或者該交易所與倫敦波羅的海交易所(Baltic Exchange)合併談判的潛力。但一次技術故障導致交易暫停，釀成新加坡交易所史上最嚴重的交易中斷。
The glitch was more embarrassing than commercially damaging. SGX not longer derives the largest part of its revenues from cash equity trading —although, as with the Hong Kong Exchange, its primary function is still what it is best known for.
相對於商業破壞性，此次故障在更大程度上令人尷尬。新加坡交易所的最大收入來源不再是現金股票交易，不過，與香港交易所(Hong Kong Exchange)一樣，其主要職能仍是其最知名的業務。
What both groups are focusing on, however, is a battle to become Asia’s go-to centre for cross-border dealing in as many asset classes and market segments as they can.
然而，這兩家交易所的競爭焦點，是成爲亞洲儘可能多的資產類別以及市場領域的跨境交易的首選平臺。
In Europe and the US, exchanges have merged in the past decade into ever-bigger entities. But analysts say attempts to follow suit in Asia are likely to be stymied by national pride — as was SGX’s mooted $6.2bn merger with the Australian Securities Exchange five years ago.
過去10年，在歐洲和美國，交易所紛紛合併，締造規模更大的實體。但分析師們表示，民族自豪感可能會阻礙併購交易在亞洲出現，就像新加坡交易所5年前與澳大利亞證交所(Australian Securities Exchange)擬議的62億美元合併案一樣。
SGX and HKEx thus have two main routes for growth: derivatives and other asset classes. “It’s the art of the possible for both exchanges right now,” says Harsh Wardhan Modi, head of Asean banks and exchanges equities research at JPMorgan.
因此，新加坡交易所和港交所有兩條主要增長途徑：衍生品和其他資產類別。摩根大通(JPMorgan)東盟銀行和交易所股票研究主管哈石•瓦德漢•默迪(Harsh Wardhan Modi)表示：“對這兩家交易所來說，現在的關鍵是把握可能性的藝術。”
“It’s very difficult to revive cash trading volumes when investors aren’t putting new money into stocks. There is a method to inorganic growth, and both exchanges are looking at options that make strategic sense.”
“在投資者不再向股票投入新的資金之際，很難重振現金交易額。剩下的是無機增長的方法，兩家交易所都在研究符合戰略合理性的選擇。”
Singapore has had success with iron ore derivatives and index futures, not least for Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 contract and India’s Nifty index. Its crown jewel is the FTSE China A50 contract, the world’s only offshore futures contract based on mainland stocks.
新加坡在鐵礦石衍生品和指數期貨方面取得了成功，特別是東京日經225指數(Nikkei 225)合約以及印度的Nifty指數。其拳頭產品是唯一基於中國內地股票的離岸期貨合約——新華富時中國A50(FTSE China A50)。
Adding Baltic Exchange — discussions continue — would give SGX freight derivatives, a natural fit for a city that hosts one of the busiest container ports. It would also mark its first foray into owning indices.
將波羅的海交易所收歸旗下（談判仍在繼續）將令新加坡交易所獲得貨運衍生品，對於一個擁有全球最繁忙集裝箱港口之一的國家而言，這是一個順理成章的選擇。此舉也將標誌着新加坡交易所首次擁有自己的指數。
Mr Loh, presenting full-year results on Wednesday, said: “If you look at the position of Singapore as a financial centre internationally . . . being a multi-asset exchange is very real and important. There are various things we are doing that will bear fruit.”
羅文才在上月公佈全年業績時表示：“如果你把新加坡的地位視爲一個全球金融中心……那麼成爲一個多資產交易所是非常切實和重要的。我們現在做的很多事情都會結出果實。”
HKXx bought the London Metal Exchange for $2.2bn in 2012, opened the only direct link to trade mainland stocks in 2014, and is developing a suite of currency derivatives. Charles Li, chief executive, says the goal is to become the gateway for international investors looking at China, and a risk management centre for mainland investors.
港交所2012年以22億美元收購倫敦金屬交易所(London Metal Exchange)，2014年開通了唯一交易內地股票的直接通道，現在正開發一系列匯率衍生品。港交所行政總裁李小加(Charles Li)表示，目標是成爲目光投向中國的國際投資者的門戶以及內地投資者的風險管理中心。
Last week HKEx suffered its own malfunction when a four-hour outage during Asian trading hours on the LME’s electronic platform left dealers scrambling to conduct business by phone.
最近港交所也曾遭遇技術故障，倫敦金屬交易所電子交易平臺在亞洲交易時段中斷4個小時，迫使交易員們忙於通過電話進行交易。
Traders agree that the exchanges’ direction makes sense, particularly because competing products have so far been avoided.
各交易商同意，這些交易所的方向是合理的，尤其是鑑於它們迄今避免了推出相互競爭的產品。
“Listing a new product is one thing,” says Stephane Loiseau, head of Société Générale’s cash equities business in Asia. “Having enough liquidity to make it attractive and efficient for investors is quite another.
“掛牌一款新產品是一回事，”法國興業銀行(Société Générale)亞洲現金股票業務主管斯特凡納•盧瓦索(Stephane Loiseau)表示，“擁有足夠大的流動性讓其對投資者具有吸引力和高效率則是另一回事。”
“So instead of trying to compete directly with Singapore, it looks like Hong Kong is trying to promote itself as the main gateway for all China-related products.”
“因此，香港看上去並未試圖與新加坡展開正面競爭，而是在努力將自己推介爲所有中國相關產品的主要門戶。”
Soggy equity trading is not helping either exchange. This week Singapore reported that revenue from equity and bonds trading was down 2 per cent in the past year on flat volume, while income from derivatives had jumped 10 per cent on a 14 per cent increase in trading activity.
股票交易清淡對這兩家交易所都不利。日前，新加坡公佈，過去一年，來自股票和債券交易的收入下降2%，交易量持平，而來自衍生品的收入增長10%，交易活動增加14%。
Global trading volumes were a quarter lower in the first half of this year than in 2015. This trading collapse has affected KHEx more. But Hong Kong has one clear advantage over Singapore — its role as a capital-raising centre, where it ranked number one globally last year, raising almost $34bn through initial public offerings.
今年上半年，全球交易額比2015年同期減少四分之一。交易額的大幅萎縮對港交所的影響較大。但相對於新加坡而言，香港擁有一項明顯優勢：其作爲籌資中心的地位，去年，香港在這項指標上位居全球第一，首次公開發行(IPO)籌資總額近340億美元。
During the past decade SGX has raised about a 10th of the IPO capital of its rival, according to Dealogic data.
根據Dealogic的數據，過去10年，新加坡交易所的IPO籌資總額大約是香港的十分之一。
