Broadening Knowledge, Building Capacity: WFE’s Expanding Education Services

As part of its mission to advance capital market development worldwide, the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), in partnership with Bayes Business School, launched the Market Infrastructure Certificate (MIC) programme in 2023. This programme, the only one of its kind, is a qualification purpose-built to serve the learning needs of all senior managers and mid-career professionals at central banks, buy-side and sell-side firms, exchanges, clearing houses, CSD and regulatory bodies who need to engage with, and understand, the functioning and role of the organisations that underpin public markets. Participants who successfully complete the programme are awarded a postgraduate certificate, the Market Infrastructure Certificate, and receive 60 credits from Bayes Business School, City University of London.

In September this year, we welcomed the programme’s third cohort. Participation continues to grow: to date, the MIC has enrolled 71 professionals from 22 countries and 26 organisations. Most participants (76%) are from exchange groups, with the Middle East and North Africa emerging as the most represented region (37%).

Across the three cohorts, women have represented 28% of MIC participants. By comparison, the WFE Sustainability Survey 2025 found that women account for 42% of the total workforce and 32% of senior management at exchanges. This gap highlights an important opportunity for the MIC to strengthen outreach and engagement with women professionals and ensure greater gender diversity in future cohorts.

Emerging and Developing Markets Capacity-Building Series

Reflecting our commitment to knowledge-sharing, capacity-building, and inclusive growth in financial markets, the WFE is expanding its educational offering this year with the launch of the Emerging & Developing Markets Capacity-Building Series—a dedicated initiative to support all those interested in, or working with, frontier, emerging, and developing markets (EDMs).

This educational programme offers a series of virtual workshops designed to equip participants—particularly those working in EDMs—with both foundational and advanced knowledge of capital markets. The programme focuses on the principles of market infrastructures, including exchanges, central counterparties (CCPs), and central securities depositories (CSDs). Each workshop blends theoretical insights with practical case studies and is delivered by experts from WFE members and partners. Teaching and discussions are specifically tailored to the unique challenges, structures, and opportunities involved in developing and strengthening market infrastructures in EDMs.

This series of webinars is open to anyone interested in market infrastructures, including practitioners, regulators, buy-side & sell-side professionals, government institutions and academics, especially those working in, or interested in learning about markets in transformation or expansion phases.