CEO Letter - October 2016

By: The WFE Team Oct 2016

Dear Colleagues,

A very warm welcome to WFE’s Focus magazine, now with a new look and feel.

We hope you like the new design, but more importantly the direction we’re taking with the publication: as before, thought-provoking interviews and features on the hottest industry topics from the leaders of the market structure sector, but now on a fully interactive platform that allows you to share and engage with the content across all your devices. Please do send us your feedback on the new-look Focus to [email protected]

We have a bumper issue for you this month. Our Executive Interview features Mr Zhengqiang Li, Chairman of the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE). DCE’s performance in 2015 saw the exchange account for 26% of all global commodity derivatives volumes. Mr Li takes us through the drivers behind this growth, and discusses his vision for DCE in the future.

We are delighted to welcome a contribution from Alina Aldambergen, CEO, Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), who outlines an exciting new strategic direction for KASE, which will allow it to play a more significant role in financing the transformation of Kazakhstan’s real economy.

Mainstreaming sustainability is very much part of the WFE agenda, so we were particularly pleased to see the news from Luxembourg Stock Exchange in September of its new exchange, dedicated exclusively to green securities. CEO Robert Scharfe, who also chairs the WFE’s Governance & Nomination Committee, tells us more about the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX).

Another exciting initiative is that of LMEprecious, led by London Metals Exchange (LME) in partnership with the World Gold Council and six trading partners. Our Q&A with Garry Jones, Chief Executive, LME outlines how the market will operate, ahead of the planned launch in the first half of 2017.

As part of the WFE’s mission to engage with important stakeholders on behalf of the industry, we have BlackRock discussing its views on the European corporate bond market.

The WFE’s Research team recently published a report on growing liquidity in emerging market exchanges, in collaboration with global management consulting firm Oliver Wyman; you can read a summary of the findings in this month’s issue.

As ever, the WFE Research team has compiled key monthly statistics in its Dashboard, which now offers you an interactive experience. The team’s Market Insight & Analysis section looks at the SME space – a key focus area for the WFE – following our recent publication of the WFE Annual Statistics for Alternative and SME markets.

And finally, we are looking forward to seeing many of you next week in Cartagena, Colombia, for the WFE’s 56th General Assembly & Annual Meeting (2-4 November 2016). We feel privileged to have such an incredible roster of keynote speakers, moderators and panellists at the conference. We look forward to debating the issues of the hour with you all, during what promises to be a packed and topical schedule. Safe travels.