CEO Letter - September 2017

By: The WFE Team Sep 2017

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to your bumper September 2017 issue of Focus.

This month, we look back at the successful 57th WFE General Assembly & Annual Meeting (6-8 September, Bangkok, Thailand). The three-day event showcased the truly exceptional warmth and hospitality of our gracious hosts the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET); we would like to warmly thank each and every member of the SET team for an unforgettable conference.

The theme of the GA&AM this year was around the role of exchanges and CCPs in fostering economic growth and development, and this golden thread brought together many different elements of the rich programme. In the magazine this month we try to give you a snapshot of the key highlights.

We start with Arunma Oteh, Vice President and Treasurer, The World Bank, who made a stirring speech at the Annual Meeting. Her call to action, to urgently focus on working together to build a sustainable future, was the first key note speech of the WFE Annual Meeting, and set the tone for rest of the event.

At the event, the WFE launched a joint research report with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)on the role of stock exchanges in fostering economic growth and sustainable development, and James Zahn, Director, Investment and Enterprise, UNCTAD, and Editor-in-Chief, United Nations World Investment Report takes us through the key findings.

The WFE held its General Assembly in Bangkok prior to the conference, where the members appointed a new WFE Chairman, Mr WU Qing, Chairman, Shanghai Stock Exchange. We are delighted to welcome his insight in this issue, where he shares five positive actions that we can all take to ensure our industry remains great in the future.

In this edition, we welcome three panellists from the WFE Annual Meeting. Two of them discuss retail participation in emerging markets, the subject of the most recent paper from WFE Research. His Excellency Essa Kazim, Chairman, Dubai Financial Markets (DFM) and Alexander Afanasiev, CEO, MOEX, both share their regional experience and success with retail investors. And Paul Hilgers, CEO, Optiver, a key note speaker at the event, focuses on new risks in the system, and considers how to mitigate against them.

The theme of the social value of exchanges was also strong in our annual video, that we were proud to premiere at the opening of the Annual Meeting. It explores the ways in which an exchange can contribute to the society and real economy around it, and features:

  • Terry Duffy, Chairman & CEO, CME GROUP
  • Loh Boon Chye, CEO, SGX
  • Kesara Manchusree, President, The Stock Exchange of Thailand
  • Arunma Oteh, Vice President and Treasurer, The World Bank
  • Oscar Onyema, CEO, The Nigerian Stock Exchange

We would like to thank our video contributors for sharing their personal stories and journeys with us, in what is a really powerful piece of film.

We are also delighted to welcome back Arjun Jayaram, CEO, Baton Systems, who outlines the importance of partnering with regulators when working on operating efficiencies and risk reduction.

The WFE spoke at the IOSCO Emerging Markets Meeting in mid-September, and I had the privilege and pleasure of meeting the team at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). We had a wonderful Market Opening Ceremony at the exchange. At the bell ringing, I spoke about the special relationship between the WFE and CSE, and on the important contribution made by the CSE to regional capital market development.

Back in London, the WFE was proud to support the second annual Women Leaders in Financial Infrastructure event, where more than 120 women gathered to listen to two panel discussions - one on Aptitude and the other on Authority & Influence – led by a number of inspirational leaders of our industry.

We include the WFE Regulatory Affairs Team’s response to the CPMI-IOSCO Framework for Supervisory Stress Testing of Central Counterparties (CCPs) this month; and finally, the WFE Research Team looks at the listings and value traded of ETFs in the first eight months of 2017 vs 2016, based on data received from 45 exchanges.

We hope you enjoy this packed edition. Please do continue to give us feedback on [email protected]

Thank you.