The Foreign Exchange Professionals Association (FXPA) held member events in New York and Singapore in recent months that brought together industry professionals and regulators for in-depth discussions around the topics of conduct and liquidity.
The New York event was hosted by Bloomberg Tradebook at the Bloomberg headquarters. The October meeting opened with an address by Adam Cooper, senior managing director, chief legal officer at Citadel LLC, who provided an overview of the FXPA and the work it has done over the first year.
Cooper, who serves as vice chair of FXPA and was its first chairman, then introduced Michael Nelson, assistant general counsel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who gave a presentation on the development of a global code of conduct for the FX industry.
A panel discussion analysing “The Liquidity Landscape: What’s the Future for Credit Provision, Pricing and Execution?” rounded out the event. The panel looked at the impact on liquidity resulting from cost pressures, capital controls and credit. Moderator John Shay, partner – transaction and technology services at Virtu Financial, led a roundtable with members Bill Samela, managing director, co-head global FX trading, BNY Mellon; Chris Concannon, president and CEO, BATS Global Markets; Mike Harris, president, Campbell & Company; and Jamil Nazarali, head of execution services, Citadel Securities.
In Singapore, Singapore Exchange (SGX), hosted an FXPA member event at the exchange in November. The event brought together local representatives of FXPA members with overseas members, and featured a presentation by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) deputy director, Ong Boon Chye, who gave an overview of Singapore’s FX market, as well as an update on Singapore’s regulatory climate.
SGX’s executive vice president, head of derivatives at SGX, Michael Syn, provided the backdrop for the group ahead of a panel looking across the liquidity landscape. The panel moderator, Virtu’s Shay, again led the discussion, which included SGX’s Syn, as well as Jill Sigelbaum, global head of FX, Traiana; Bill Goodbody, senior vice president, FX, BATS Global Markets; and Ravi Pandit, head of FX/IR product, Asia, CME Group.
In June, FXPA came together in Washington to talk with Federal Reserve Governors, Treasury officials, CFTC Commissioners, and Congressional leadership.
FXPA is currently planning a meeting in London for the second quarter.
In other works, FXPA responded to ESMA’s consultation of NDF clearing and the UK FCA’s Fair and Effective Markets Review. The FXPA Policy Committee has authored an FX market backgrounder and a primer on FX benchmarks and is currently finishing its work on a primer on Last Look.
The FXPA is trade body uniquely comprised of a cross-section of FX industry participants. Based in Washington, DC, FXPA’s aim is to engage key US and international regulators, policymakers, the general public and news media, through a combination of education, research and advocacy to advance a sound, liquid, transparent and competitive global currency market. For more information, visit www.fxpa.wpengine.com