Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) has announced that ABN AMRO's Singapore office has been approved to issue letters of credit (L/Cs) for trading crude oil on the exchange.

The approval comes after joint efforts to facilitate oil trading for DME's and ABN AMRO's customers in Asia.

Existing providers

In 2015, Tokyo-headquartered Mizuho Bank and DBS Bank joined the handful of banks, including ING Bank, Rabobank and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), licensed to issue DME L/Cs directly from Singapore to guarantee deliveries of Oman Blend crude oil (DC World News, 30 June 2015).

In February 2014, RBS was the first bank to win approval to issue L/Cs on DME to guarantee deliveries of Oman Blend crude oil directly from Singapore.

Client benefits

According to ABN AMRO's managing director and global head of energy commodities clients, Friso Koopmans, the DME Oman contract plays a significant role in meeting clients' risk management needs in the energy market.

"We are committed to ensuring that clients seeking to trade on DME will now find a more seamless and convenient process for the issuance of L/Cs," he said.

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