CEO Letter - December 2024

Welcome to the December edition of Focus.

In our final issue this year we reflect on a wide range of themes and issues affecting global exchanges in the wake of the 63rd WFE General Assembly and Annual Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that took place in November.

Our cover story is the Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's keynote address, in which he talked about Malaysia's vibrant economy, sustainability, the need for international cooperation and ASEAN's new memorandum of understanding.

We feature a piece by ASEAN exchanges that looks at the MOU and regional collaboration among the bloc's bourses, and Dato’ Mohammad Faiz Azmi, Executive Chairman of the Securities Commission Malaysia, sets out its program of work as it prepares to assume the Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2025.

Dr Reena Aggarwal, Robert E. McDonough Professor of Finance at Georgetown University, examines the trends shaping financial exchanges, including governance, product innovation, technology and regulations.

Bourse de Casablanca Deputy CEO Mohamed Saad talks about AI and its potential impact on financial literacy.

Suraj Pandey, Business Development Manager at pTools Software, discusses a collaboration with the Namibia Securities Exchange to provide LEIs continent-wide using the pTools LEILex platform.

Maxim Nikiforov, Senior Project Manager, Commodity Exchanges, at Exactpro takes an in-depth look at test coverage at financial institutions.

David Ngai, Alternate Chief Executive of State Street Bank, highlights key trends shaping the future of exchanges, including blockchain adoption, AI integration, sustainability and enhanced accessibility.

And Guy Melamed, Co-founder and CEO of Exberry, explains how exchanges can leverage data to improve market integrity, differentiate themselves and deliver valuable insights.

We will return in January with the leaders of some of the world's most important bourses giving us their thoughts on what lies ahead as we kick off 2025.