BOCA RATON, USA- Singapore Exchange will open trading hubs in Chicago and London in a bid to attract more trading from overseas, the exchange said on Tuesday.

The hubs are close to being finished and will open in April, it said.

Chicago and London are home to dozens of small trading firms that do not currently trade on the Asian exchange, and the hubs are designed to serve them.

"This lowers the barrier to entry for small firms that want to trade in Asia," SGX executive Muthukrishnan Ramaswami said at a Futures Industry Association conference in Florida.

The exchange may next consider opening a hub in Tokyo and could consider hubs in New York and Hong Kong.