Futures Trading Act
(CHAPTER 116)

(Original Enactment: Act 14 of 1986)

REVISED EDITION 1985
(30th March 1987)
An Act to regulate trading in futures contracts and for matters connected therewith.
[15th August 1986]
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Short title
1.  This Act may be cited as the Futures Trading Act.
Interpretation
2.  In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
“auditor” means an approved company auditor as defined in section 4 of the Companies Act [Cap. 50];
“Authority” means the Monetary Authority of Singapore established under section 3 of the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act [Cap. 186];
“business rules”, in relation to a body corporate that maintains or proposes to maintain a futures market, means the rules, regulations and bye-laws, by whatever name called, governing the activities and conduct of —
(a)the body corporate and its members;
(b)its clearing house; and
(c)other persons in relation to the futures market,
whether those rules, regulations or bye-laws are made by the body corporate or are contained in the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the body corporate or altered or supplemented by the Authority pursuant to section 5(4);
“clearing house”, in relation to a futures market, means a body corporate, or an association or organisation forming part of a Futures Exchange, that —
(a)clears and settles futures contracts; and
(b)makes adjustments to the contractual obligations arising out of those futures contracts;
“commodity” means —
(a)a financial instrument; and
(b)gold and such other items, goods, articles, services, rights and interests, which are the subject of futures contracts, as the Authority may by order prescribe;
“corporation” has the same meaning as in the Companies Act;
“customer” means a person on whose account a futures broker carries on trading in futures contracts;
“director” has the same meaning as in the Companies Act [Cap. 50];
“Exchange” or “Futures Exchange” means —
(a)the Singapore International Monetary Exchange Ltd.; or
(b)a body corporate —
(i)that provides or proposes to provide the physical facilities necessary for trading in futures contracts; and
(ii)that maintains or proposes to maintain a futures market that is approved by the Authority under section 4;
“financial instruments” include currencies, interest rate instruments, share indices, a group or groups of share indices and such other financial instruments as the Authority may by order prescribe;
“financial year” has the same meaning as in the Companies Act [Cap. 50];
“floor broker” means an individual who is employed by, or acts for, a futures broker for the purpose of entering into contracts on the floor of a Futures Exchange on behalf of the futures broker;
“futures broker” means a person whether as principal or agent who carries on the business of soliciting, or accepting orders, for the purchase or sale of any commodity under a futures contract on any Exchange or futures market and, who in connection therewith, accepts any money, securities or property (or extends credit in lieu thereof) to margin, guarantee or secure any trades or contracts that may result therefrom whether or not the business is part of, or is carried on in conjunction with, any other business;
“futures broker’s representative” means a person who acts for, or by arrangement with, a futures broker (other than a floor broker or a person who is a director of a corporation holding a futures broker’s licence or is a person who is in the direct employment of a futures broker) who performs any of the functions of that futures broker in connection with trading in futures contracts, whether his remuneration is by way of commission or otherwise;
“futures contract” means a contract the effect of which is that —
(a)one party agrees to deliver a specified commodity, or a specified quantity of a specified commodity, to another party at a specified future time and at a specified price payable at that time pursuant to terms and conditions set forth in the business rules or practices of an Exchange or futures market; or
(b)the parties will discharge their obligations under the contract by settling the difference between the value of a specified quantity of a specified commodity at the time of the making of the contract and at a specified future time, such difference being determined in accordance with the business rules or practices of the Futures Exchange or futures market at which the contract is made,
and includes a futures option transaction;
“futures market” means a market, Exchange or other place at which futures contracts are regularly made whether that market, Exchange or place is in or outside Singapore;
“futures option transaction” means a transaction in relation to a futures contract which gives a person a right, acquired for a consideration, to buy or sell a specified amount of a commodity at a specified price within a specified period of time and includes any other option of which the subject is a futures contract;
“futures pool operator” means any person who carries on a business, in the nature of a unit trust or other interest to which Division 6 of Part IV of the Companies Act [Cap. 50] applies, and who in connection therewith accepts or receives from other persons funds, security or property, either directly or through capital contributions, the sale of shares or other forms of security or otherwise for the purpose of trading in a futures contract but does not include such persons as the Authority may by regulations prescribe;
“futures pool operator’s representative” means a person in the direct employment of, or acting for, or by arrangement, with a futures pool operator, who performs for such futures pool operator any of the functions of a futures pool operator;
“futures trading adviser” means any person who carries on the business of advising others, directly or indirectly, through publications or writings, or by whatever means or media advises others concerning futures contracts, including the advisability of trading in any futures contract made or to be made on, or subject to the business rules of, a futures market or who as part of a regular business issues or promulgates analyses or reports concerning futures trading but does not include —
(a)a bank that is licensed under the Banking Act [Cap. 19] or a merchant bank approved by the Authority under the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act [Cap. 186];
(b)a futures broker, futures broker’s representative, futures pool operator or futures pool operator’s representative;
(c)a person who carries on the business of printing or publishing a newspaper and is the holder of a permit issued under the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act [Cap. 206] where —
(i)insofar as the newspaper is distributed generally to the public it is distributed only to subscribers to, and purchasers of, the newspaper for value;
(ii)the advice is given or the analyses or reports are issued or promulgated only through that newspaper; and
(iii)that person receives no commission or other consideration for giving the advice or for issuing or promulgating the analyses or reports; and
(d)such other persons as the Authority may by regulations prescribe,
so long as the carrying on of the business by the abovementioned persons is solely incidental to the carrying on of their business;
“futures trading adviser’s representative” means a person in the direct employment of, or acting for, or by arrangement with, a futures trading adviser, who performs for that futures trading adviser any of the functions of a futures trading adviser (other than work ordinarily performed by accountants, clerks or cashiers) whether his remuneration is by way of salary, wages, commission or otherwise; and, where the futures trading adviser is a corporation, includes any director, member or officer of the corporation who is not the holder of a futures trading adviser’s licence and who performs for that corporation any of the functions of a futures trading adviser (whether or not his remuneration is by way of salary, wages, commission or otherwise);
“member” means a person who holds membership of any class or description of a Futures Exchange whether or not he holds any share in the share capital of that Exchange;
“officer” has the same meaning as in the Companies Act [Cap. 50];
“trading in futures contracts”, in relation to any person, whether acting as principal or agent, means —
(a)making or offering to make an agreement with any other person or inducing or attempting to induce any other person to enter into an agreement for the purchase or sale of a futures contract; or
(b)soliciting or accepting any order for, or otherwise dealing in, a futures contract.