The first license to trade index-based financial futures is likely to be issued within the next month, although futures products aren't expected to debut before June, the Financial Times reported. Ten brokerages are poised to get licenses in May after many of the 180 futures brokerages nationwide put in applications last September when the China Financial Futures Exchange was formerly opened in Shanghai. But a source close to the China Securities and Regulatory Commission said that the first product – a futures contract based on the Shanghai Shenzhen 300 Index – wouldn't be released until June or July. "If they are not launched at that time, then they will be delayed until next year because they cannot be launched too close to the [five-yearly Chinese Communist Party's 17th] central committee congress in October," the source added. The 10 licenses are expected to be divided equally between futures brokerages tied to securities firms and commodities futures brokerages.
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