回避正面竞争的新交所和港交所

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.

在最近罗文才(Loh Boon Chye)担任新加坡交易所(Singapore Exchange)首席执行官满一周年之际，他本来可以强调该公司本身的股票跑赢大盘，或者该交易所与伦敦波罗的海交易所(Baltic Exchange)合并谈判的潜力。但一次技术故障导致交易暂停，酿成新加坡交易所史上最严重的交易中断。

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.

相对于商业破坏性，此次故障在更大程度上令人尴尬。新加坡交易所的最大收入来源不再是现金股票交易，不过，与香港交易所(Hong Kong Exchange)一样，其主要职能仍是其最知名的业务。

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，这两家交易所的竞争焦点，是成为亚洲尽可能多的资产类别以及市场领域的跨境交易的首选平台。

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.

过去10年，在欧洲和美国，交易所纷纷合并，缔造规模更大的实体。但分析师们表示，民族自豪感可能会阻碍并购交易在亚洲出现，就像新加坡交易所5年前与澳大利亚证交所(Australian Securities Exchange)拟议的62亿美元合并案一样。

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两条主要增长途径：衍生品和其他资产类别。摩根大通(JPMorgan)东盟银行和交易所股票研究主管哈石•瓦德汉•默迪(Harsh Wardhan Modi)表示：“对这两家交易所来说，现在的关键是把握可能性的艺术。”

“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.”

“在投资者不再向股票投入新的资金之际，很难重振现金交易额。剩下的是无机增长的方法，两家交易所都在研究符合战略合理性的选择。”

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.

新加坡在铁矿石衍生品和指数期货方面取得了成功，特别是东京日经225指数(Nikkei 225)合约以及印度的Nifty指数。其拳头产品是唯一基于中国内地股票的离岸期货合约——新华富时中国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.

将波罗的海交易所收归旗下（谈判仍在继续）将令新加坡交易所获得货运衍生品，对于一个拥有全球最繁忙集装箱港口之一的国家而言，这是一个顺理成章的选择。此举也将标志着新加坡交易所首次拥有自己的指数。

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.”

罗文才在上月公布全年业绩时表示：“如果你把新加坡的地位视为一个全球金融中心……那么成为一个多资产交易所是非常切实和重要的。我们现在做的很多事情都会结出果实。”

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22亿美元收购伦敦金属交易所(London Metal Exchange)，2014年开通了唯一交易内地股票的直接通道，现在正开发一系列汇率衍生品。港交所行政总裁李小加(Charles Li)表示，目标是成为目光投向中国的国际投资者的门户以及内地投资者的风险管理中心。

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术故障，伦敦金属交易所电子交易平台在亚洲交易时段中断4个小时，迫使交易员们忙于通过电话进行交易。

Traders agree that the exchanges’ direction makes sense, particularly because competing products have so far been avoided.

各交易商同意，这些交易所的方向是合理的，尤其是鉴于它们迄今避免了推出相互竞争的产品。

“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.

“挂牌一款新产品是一回事，”法国兴业银行(Société Générale)亚洲现金股票业务主管斯特凡纳•卢瓦索(Stephane Loiseau)表示，“拥有足够大的流动性让其对投资者具有吸引力和高效率则是另一回事。”

“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，香港看上去并未试图与新加坡展开正面竞争，而是在努力将自己推介为所有中国相关产品的主要门户。”

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.

股票交易清淡对这两家交易所都不利。日前，新加坡公布，过去一年，来自股票和债券交易的收入下降2%，交易量持平，而来自衍生品的收入增长10%，交易活动增加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，全球交易额比2015年同期减少四分之一。交易额的大幅萎缩对港交所的影响较大。但相对于新加坡而言，香港拥有一项明显优势：其作为筹资中心的地位，去年，香港在这项指标上位居全球第一，首次公开发行(IPO)筹资总额近340亿美元。

During the past decade SGX has raised about a 10th of the IPO capital of its rival, according to Dealogic data.

根据Dealogic的数据，过去10年，新加坡交易所的IPO筹资总额大约是香港的十分之一。