In 2002, the Ministry of Finance, through Brunei International Financial Centre (BIFC), granted a license to the International Brunei Exchange Ltd. (IBX) to operate the country's first Securities Exchange. It operated briefly but is not currently functioning. The IBX was a wholly owned subsidiary of NESDEX Pte Ltd, a company based in Singapore, also no longer in operation. Initially accessible to non-residents, IBX was designed to provide a trading facility for international dealers to trade in conventional equity and derivative products including Shari'ah compliant instruments.