SGTraDex Services may be a Singaporean entity, but it has a very international shareholding structure and outlook.
The data exchange platform is a public-private joint venture 40% owned by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and 60% owned by private sector shareholders Trafigura, Ocean Network Express, Pacific International Lines, PSA, Jurong Port, Advario (a carve-out of oil terminal operator Oiltanking), and Standard Chartered, OCBC, DBS and UOB banks.
The infrastructure itself was developed and is owned by SGTraDex Technologies, an IMDA subsidiary.
“Their role is to operate and maintain the infrastructure. Our role at SGTraDex Services is to look at business development. We understand the requirement from the market, we understand what we should build on the project so that we drive adoption, and we work with our system entity to operationalise that,” chief executive Antoine Cadoux said.
SGTraDex’s initial focus is on the Singapore market, but Cadoux stresses this is because it “wants to prove the value correct in Singapore” first.
SGTraDex’s use cases already have many cross-border elements and Cadoux said it will expand internationally by developing more such cross-border elements.
In addition, SGTraDex’s view is that further international expansion will happen through connections with similar platforms and networks elsewhere.
“We are trying to target like-minded platforms or infrastructure in other geographies to create a bit more of this connectivity,” he said, although he indicated that this was not an immediate priority.
“To be completely frank, there is no long-term success without short-term success. Right now, our focus is on scaling up existing use cases and making them a resounding success, and bringing new use cases onto the platform.”
