The China Foreign Exchange Trade System ("CFETS") has recently issued the Circular on Launching the FX Options Trading in the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market (the "Circular").
The Circular reads that the CFETS will launch FX options trading on the new generation of foreign exchange trading platform called CFETS FX2017 on August 26, 2019. Relevant market participants shall comply with three rules. For instance, an institution with the membership for FX derivative trading in the interbank foreign exchange market may file an application to the CFETS for opening the quotation and trading access for FX options transactions, while an institution with the membership for both FX derivative trading and RMB FX options trading will automatically gain the quotation and trading access for FX options transactions. Meanwhile, the Circular expressly states that there will be two trading varieties, with the vanilla European options for five currency pairs, including EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, AUD/USD and USD/HKD, launched at the initial stage. Furthermore, the Circular notes that the trading time will be from 7:00 to 23:30 Beijing time, adding that fees for such trading will be charged under the current fee standard for FX derivative trading.