CEO Letter - December 2019
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the final issue of Focus for 2019.
We are delighted to round off the year on the issue of market data, an important topic for the industry that creates it: the exchanges. We released a short animation designed to educate stakeholders on the importance of valuing stock market data correctly for users who profit from it. The animation forms part of the WFE’s work to ensure that role of exchanges in creating market data is correctly understood.
Our Executive Profile this month features Socrates Lazaridis, Chief Executive Officer, Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX) following the recent publication of ATHEX’s first Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Reporting Guide. The guide aims to establish a framework through which companies can disclose material ESG information that can be used to formulate strategies and improve performance.
We also hear from Ramon Monzon, President & Chief Executive Officer, Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) who guides us through the launch of its retail individual investor web platform and mobile application called PSE Electronic Allocation System ('PSE EASy'), which was developed to allow greater participation by local small investors in initial public offerings (IPOs).
Still on the topic of listings, Wen-Lin SHIH, Senior Vice President of Foreign Listing Department, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) writes about TWSE’s foreign listings strategy, which has been very successful to date, with 75 foreign companies listed in Taiwan at present.
In his piece on resilience and digitalisation, Jason Harrell, Head of Business and Government Cybersecurity Partnerships, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) asks the question: Does this new era of resilience require a new approach in risk management processes and, if so, what will it take to make that change?
A year on from the WFE signing an MoU with the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA), aimed at supporting the development of the wider African capital market, Thapelo Tsheole, Chief Executive Officer, Botswana Stock Exchange, writes about the 23rd ASEA Annual General Meeting and Conference which the exchange hosted.
We welcome an update from Liu Fuzhong, Vice Director of Strategy and International Relations, Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) regarding its International Seminar on Capital Market for SMEs, which attracted representatives of exchanges and regulatory bodies from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and the UAE.
This month’s issue also features an article by Naser Al-Sanousi, Marketing & Communication Director, Boursa Kuwait, who writes about the multi-layered approach the bourse takes to Corporate Sustainability, including activities that support three main areas: Education, Community and the Environment.
In the New Year, we will be announcing our key strategic objectives for 2020. One area of work the WFE has already launched is a 12-month workplan to ensure the role and nature of CCPs is correctly understood, and is not undermined by narrow interests that diverge from good public policy. We will take a comprehensive, first-principles look at all relevant questions, including the rationale for CCPs in the financial system and society. The programme will factor in research that has been produced in this area, while avoiding a selective or one-sided approach. We look forward to engaging with our members and industry stakeholders on this theme throughout 2020.
The WFE Research Team’s monthly insights article gives an overview of the on-exchange bond listings and trading activities over the first ten months of 2019, along with the usual monthly statistics tables.
Our first Working Committee of the year takes place on Thursday 16 January 2020, kindly hosted by Nasdaq. Do please register if you haven’t done so already, as space is limited.
Registration is now open for members, affiliates and speakers for the 37th edition of our annual IOMA: WFE’s Clearing & Derivatives Conference, which will take place in Malta in March 2020. For the 2020 conference, we have called for academic submissions, and will bring together academics, policy-makers, WFE member CCPs and derivatives exchanges with other industry stakeholders from around the world to discuss and input into research. Participants will also engage in a multi-jurisdictional exchange of ideas on the opportunities and challenges for the future of central and bilateral clearing in the light of regulatory reforms, market structure changes, and technological developments. The programme will comprise keynote speeches, expert panels and paper presentations in a number of key areas including: CCP default management processes; recovery and resolution; technological developments in clearing; market resilience; changes in market structure; and model risk.
As we bid farewell to 2019, we would like to thank all our readers and contributors for their ongoing support and engagement with both the WFE and Focus magazine. It’s been a decade of outstanding change in our sector, and we have had the privilege of watching that change unfold through the stories told in this magazine by the leaders of the global market infrastructure industry. Thank you.
We wish you all a peaceful and prosperous New Year, and look forward to another decade of collaboration. Happy New Year!