Singapore Exchange signed a new licensing agreement with MSCI to introduce futures and options contracts based on a suite of the former's indices across global developed and emerging markets, according to an MSCI press release on Thursday.

The index and analytics provider is looking to expand its partnership with the city-state's bourse operator to cover flagship global and regional equity benchmarks, market indices and EM Asia sector indices.

The agreement is structured to help institutional investors managing multi-regional equity portfolios via a centrally cleared location in the regional time zone.