On 17 September 2019, Qianhai Mercantile Exchange (QME)’s first online financing service for alumina producer warrant orders was successfully launched whereby the Shenzhen branch of the Bank of Shanghai advanced loans to financing customers for use in purchasing alumina producer warrants.

The Shenzhen branch of the Bank of Shanghai, being the first designated financing and financial institution of QME / the first financial institution designated by QME in relation to financing business/purposes, and QME have docked the various functional sections of the trading system with the banking system and realised simultaneous exchange of information. This enables the use of QME’s electronic warehouse warrants as the trusted target assets to perform various functions such as online application for financing, online pledging, online drawdown of loan and online management.

The launch of QME’s first producer warrant financing has positive and far-reaching significance for the prosperous development of the Mainland’s aluminium industry which has been stricken by the difficulty in obtaining financing and high financing costs.  Financial institutions have all along been facing the predicament relating to obtaining financing for aluminium-related commodities other than standard aluminium billets.  In light of this, the Bank of Shanghai’s innovative products based on QME’s producer warrants are able to meet industrial customers’ needs, giving a strong boost to the upgrade and transformation of the industry.  Moreover, the launch of this financing business also corroborates QME’s positioning and development goals set out in the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and marks an important milestone in QME’s “exploration of a new mode to serve the real economy”.