Few doubt that Chinese financial futures are going to be massive. But will any of us live to see it? The China Financial Futures Exchange is ready and waiting, and so is its first product, a future on the CSI 300 stock index. Market participants are eager to trade. But when they will get permission is anyone’s guess. As Agnieszka Troszkiewicz reports, firms are waiting for the off with a mixture of phlegmatic patience and irritation.
Don’t hold your breath. But derivatives specialists in China believe stock index futures could be launched at the China Financial Futures Exchange this year, reopening the market for exchange-traded financial derivatives.
On the other hand, they might not.
Ever since the exchange was set up in Shanghai in 2006, market participants have been grasping at hints from various officials – some indicating that the authorities were very enthusiastic about futures and were...