OpinionThe good, the bad and the ugly in 2013 business scene

The new year is upon us and that means it's time for White Collar to wish readers well for the next 12 months - and to look back at the good, the bad and the ugly that came our way in 2013.

At the bad end of the ledger for the city's business scene, the collapse of the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange provides us with the top scandal of the year.

The home-grown exchange, which traded gold and silver contracts, was founded and chaired by former Executive Council member Barry Cheung Chun-yuen, a key adviser to Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.

The two-year-old exchange did not generate sufficient income and handed back its licence to the Securities and Futures Commission in May. HKMEx, which had a set-up cost of HK$500 million, failed to attract much turnover on its last day later that month, with only 181 contracts settled.

Not only did the exchange's failure mark a setback to the city's efforts to promote commodity trading, it also led to Cheung's resignation as an Exco member. Just days after HKMEx gave back its licence, the commission alerted the Commercial Crime Bureau to suspected serious financial irregularities at the exchange. Police subsequently arrested a number of people in connection with the matter.

But it was not all bad news on commodities. The London Metal Exchange, a subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, held its first LME Week in the city in June, which attracted thousands of commodity traders. The LME is now considering membership applications from some Hong Kong firms and plans to introduce trading of yuan commodity products in the city this year.

In a further boost for the city, the Bohai Commodity Exchange last month introduced an online platform for Hong Kong companies to trade the yuan and some commodity products as part of Tianjin's first steps towards global expansion.