SINGAPORE (Jan 31): OTC Global Holdings (OTCGH), the interdealer commodities broker, today announced the establishment of its new Asia office in Singapore, OTC Asia.

OTCGH is the world’s largest institutional broker of commodities covering financial and physical instruments from offices in Chicago, Geneva, Houston, New Jersey, London, Louisville, New York, and most recently, Singapore.

OTC Asia marks the group’s foray into the Asia Pacific region as it celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. As a result, clients in Singapore can now speak to a live broker at any time during the global workday through OTCGH’s Aalpha Energy desk.

According to the group, its Asia office will replicate its North American and European offerings by broking European and Asian crude swaps, distillate swaps and cracks, and physical fuel broking. It also plans to expand into US domestic grade crude swaps business by offering those services in Singapore, joining its Houston counterpart.

The office will be led by Aalpha Energy’s Neil Grierson, a crude swaps broker with more than six years’ experience in OTC commodities broking.

Joe Kelly, president and COO of OTCGH, comments: “OTC Asia is the last piece of the global puzzle for OTC Global Holdings and the perfect example of the type of innovation we envisioned when launching this company in 2007.”

“Thanks to our agile and innovative business model, which has enabled our success over the last decade while our competitors have been sold, folded or floundered, we have been able to continue growing and expanding in spite of a volatile global economy and continued regulatory changes,” he adds.

“With the recent consolidation in the brokerage space, it is reassuring to work at a firm that has not bowed to purchase offers and instead chooses to continue pushing ahead with its own expansion and development,” says Grierson.

“Although the Singapore oil swaps market is extremely competitive, I expect we will rapidly strengthen our position thanks to our unique competitive advantage.”