Buy-side Perspectives Issue 14 Special edition | Page 34

Buy-side firms sign up to the FX Global
Code as ECB led buy-side outreach
working group act as a catalyst
The Global Foreign Exchange Committee’s 1 (”GFXC”) newly created buy-side outreach working group is working to facilitate buy-side
adoption of the FX Global Code (Global Code). The working group was founded based on a decision by the Global Foreign Exchange
Committee at its meeting on 27 th June 2018. Its creation was motivated with the relatively limited adoption by buy-side firms with just
short of 60 firms to date. The working group’s objective is to provide impetus to the buy-side community in signing up and committing
to the Global Code by enabling them to better understand how they would benefit from it and how they could adhere to it.
While the foreign exchange market is concentrated, it is also dispersed geographically and certainly relevant to a wide span of financial
market participants. Thus, for the Global Code to gain recognition and legitimacy it needs adoption of the entire FX market including
buy-side firms and the working group was created with this diversity in mind. The working group is led by the European Central Bank
(ECB) who is a member of the GFXC via its own Foreign Exchange Contact Group 2 . The working group has neither any supervisory nor
oversight capacities. Instead it is a group where central banks, asset management firms, associations and corporates located globally in
USA, Asia Pacific, Europe and Australia together engage with the industry to facilitate buy-side adoption of the Global Code.
Dialogue will be key to broadening adoption, “We have to listen to firms reluctant to sign up to
the Global Code and understand their reasons,” Roswitha Hutter, Secretary of the Foreign
Exchange Contact Group at the ECB, says. “The Working Groups outreach effort just
started, but a big part of that will be identifying the challenges that may be holding up broader
adoption. Also, we have to explain to market participants the benefits of adhering to the Global
Code.”
Any buy-side traders who are interested in more information, can meet the buy-side outreach working group members at the
7 th annual Alpha Trader Forum Global Summit FX Day on the 7 th February 2019 in London.
Complementing the “buy-side outreach working group”, the GFXC appointed a number of prominent buy-side institution
representatives as buy-side liaisons. Those serve as lead representatives to the GFXC and collaborate with the “buy-side outreach
working group” by in particular supporting its initiatives. The work of the liaisons group is spearheaded by the buy side itself with
initially seven firms providing a voice from the buy side to the foreign exchange industry.
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Stuart Simmons (QIC)
Ankur Pruthi (Norges Bank Investment Management)
Robbie Boukhoufane (Schroders)
Natalia Chefer (DE Shaw)
Takayuki Ohkuma (Nomura Asset Management)
Michael O'Brien (Eaton Vance)
Claas Kohl (Airbus)
Claas Kohl, Head of Treasury Reporting and Middle Office at Airbus: “The existence of a
well-functioning FX Market is very much in the interest of all market participants. Therefore all
market participants, including corporates like Airbus, have a collective responsibility towards
enhancing and upholding conduct standards across the FX industry. Airbus is therefore
committed to the FX Global Code and had already previously been acting in accordance with its
leading principles and will continue to do so.”
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Global Summit 2019