CEO Letter - November 2019
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the November issue of Focus, our penultimate edition of the year.
We welcome Robert Scharfe, Chief Executive Officer of Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE), who tells us more about the LuxSE Guide to ESG Reporting. Launched just a few weeks ago, LuxSE’s Guide to ESG Reporting constitutes a comprehensive and solid roadmap for companies, issuers and asset managers to integrate ESG considerations into their business-decisions, strategies and operations, and illustrates how different stakeholders can proceed to meet investor demand for transparent and clear ESG information.
This month’s issue also features an article by Dan Thieke, Managing Director, Business Risk & Resilience Management, DTCC, who argues that when it comes to making today’s interconnected financial ecosystem more resilient, everyone agrees on one thing: it’s not a matter of ‘whether’ critical business services will be disrupted, it’s just a matter of ‘when.’
We hear from Juan Pablo Córdoba, Chief Executive Officer, Colombian Securities Exchange (bvc) about a range of projects focused on technology and innovation that the exchange is working on, in particular an initiative to launch a regional open call for over 250 tech-based start-ups, with a view to selecting six with whom to explore opportunities for joint collaboration.
With less than a year to go until our 60th General Assembly & Annual Meeting, we are delighted to learn more about host exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE). Feng Chen, Director of the Marketing Department, SZSE examines the importance of the maritime economy to China and the exchange.
November saw Singapore Exchange (SGX) holding its annual Bull Charge Charity Run at Marina Bay, writes Lai Zi Xiu, Media Communications, SGX, bringing together 6,000 participants on a race through some of downtown Singapore’s most iconic sights as they ran the extra mile for charity. It was the culmination of another successful year of fundraising for meaningful causes; indeed, the SGX Bull Charge has raised S$35 million for more than 50 charities since 2004.
We are also pleased to hear about the recent Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) and Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) from Amir Yousefian Pour, Chief International Officer, TSE.
The WFE was pleased to attend the 4th Annual Women Leaders in Financial Infrastructure Conference, hosted by Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). Panel sessions focused on a ranging of issues from the presence of unconscious bias in the workplace to the powerful effect of feminine qualities, along with a discussion around the meaning of influence, and the importance of striking the balance between being an authentic and consistent leader.
The WFE's Research Team's monthly insights peice looks at IPO trends between January 2017 and September 2019, asking if emerging markets behave differently to developed markets.
And we are delighted to announce that registration is now open for various WFE events taking place in early 2020.
Firstly, we will be hosting our first Working Committee (WoCo) of the year at Nasdaq in London on Thursday 16 January 2020. Members will have already received their invitation to register for the WoCo.
Secondly, the 37th edition of our annual IOMA: WFE’s Clearing & Derivatives Conference will take place in Malta in March 2020. In preparation for this exciting event, we have issued a call for papers, asking for the submission of academic research, which will define and shape the structure of our next conference. Registration is now open for members, affiliates and speakers – please click here.
We do hope that the last few weeks of 2019 are successful for all our readers; we will be back with the last issue of Focus just before Christmas. Thank you.