The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange’s Dubai India Crude Oil Futures (DICO) contract has been recognised as the ‘Best New Derivatives Contract’ at this year’s FOW Global Investor Asia Capital Markets Awards 2017.

The ceremony took place late last week at the Marina Mandarin Hotel in Singapore, and gathered the trading and derivatives industry leading experts to receive awards highlighting innovation, excellence and outstanding performance over the past year.

The Best New Derivatives Contract award category is open to contracts that were launched between May 2016 and May 2017, and aims to recognise a futures or options contract that filled a market need in a novel and innovative way. The performance of the contract is also taken in account by the judging committee.

Gaurang Desai, chief executive officer of the DGCX, attended the awards ceremony and commented on the win: “I am pleased to receive this award for the second consecutive year from FOW Global Investor on behalf of DGCX, this is a win for entire DGCX community of members, traders and my colleagues at DGCX. DICO allows participants to trade in a Crude Oil Futures benchmark referencing the Indian Rupee, whilst trading in US dollars, meaning that that the benefits of the contract extend way beyond just local markets, providing access to key Indian markets.”

Paired with the DGCX’s existing INR currency suite and WTI offerings, the DICO futures contract draws a stronger appeal to existing contracts on other exchanges which are of a differing size. The DICO contract helps facilitate price discovery by new and existing market participants, offering protection and hedging opportunities to an increasingly motivated trading community.

The product design of DICO brings together both the DGCX WTI prices and the flagship USDINR contract. The launch of this product ensured members no longer needed to access multiple markets to trade, whilst also providing the additional benefits of margin offsets against existing DGCX contracts.

“At DGCX, we are committed to expanding our global reach by introducing innovative products that are relevant for our members, and being recognised for our efforts to do so is a motivation for us to continue focusing on our long-term goals,” Desai added.

The Asia Capital Markets Awards are an expansion of FOW’s Awards for Asia program and represent the largest, buyside-led capital markets awards in Asia. The categories are multi-asset class and recognize the very best achievements across the Asian capital market industries. – TradeArabia News Service