London, 23rd January 2025 – The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), the global industry group
for exchanges and CCPs, today announces the 2025 priorities for the exchange and clearing industry.
The WFE Board – 18 leaders of market infrastructures from around the world, met last week to
discuss and agree the priorities. The WFE, which represents over 250 market infrastructures, will
focus on the areas below:
- The Role, Purpose & Work of Market Infrastructure in the next decade: As public, lit markets continue to champion the rights of investors, issuers and market participants, while more lightly regulated alternatives continue to be a source of concern and undermine social welfare, the WFE will advocate for regulation for all forms of financial trading that ensures markets remain trustworthy, inclusive, transparent and serves the needs of the industry’s diverse stakeholders.
- ESG Leadership for Market Infrastructures: Regulated marketplaces remain the
bastion of ESG, and the WFE will work on practical guides on disclosures and
transition, in support of securities issuers and derivatives markets. - Innovation in Technology: As IT evolves continuously and plays a central role in
modern market infrastructure, the WFE will assess the changes and how best to manage the use of technology, such as Artificial Intelligence. This will include the key issues of security and resilience – which are the hallmarks of Market Infrastructure. We will be working with regulators to ensure that emerging standards in these areas neither deter innovation nor fail to protect investors. - Private and Public Markets- improving the health of capital markets: Private
markets now occupy a grey area relative to public ones, especially with growth in secondary trading and retail access. With our stakeholders, the WFE will examine how private and public markets interact and how to optimise this interaction, to ensure that the incentives to list and to trade transparently are aligned with the known benefits of lit, public markets. - Clearing, CCPs and the changes arising from new regulation: The WFE, which is the largest global organisation representing CCPs, will work on the issues arising from the wave of new policy making, especially around margin practices, to ensure the CCP voice, and consensus, is heard clearly.
- Education: With the WFE’s Market Infrastructure Certificate entering its third year, the WFE will work to ensure the learning and educational needs of future leaders are being served.
As the voice of the exchange industry, the WFE will continue to foster and promote efficient market
structures that are resilient, robust, fair, transparent and stable during this time of change
and innovation.
Nandini Sukumar, CEO at the WFE, said: “We will continue to champion the sustainable growth of
public markets and collaborate with stakeholders to ensure their ongoing health and robustness,
given their important economic and social role to the global economy.”
About the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE):
Established in 1961, the WFE is the global industry association for exchanges and clearing houses.
Headquartered in London, it represents over 250 market infrastructure providers, including
standalone CCPs that are not part of exchange groups. Of our members, 37% are in Asia-Pacific, 44%
in EMEA and 19% in the Americas. WFE’s 87 member CCPs and clearing services collectively ensure
that risk takers post some $1.3 trillion (equivalent) of resources to back their positions, in the form
of initial margin and default fund requirements. WFE exchanges, together with other exchanges
feeding into our database, are home to over 51,000 listed companies, and the market capitalisation
of these entities is over $110 trillion; around $140 trillion (EOB) in trading annually passes through
WFE members (at end 2024).
The WFE is the definitive source for exchange-traded statistics and publishes over 350 market data
indicators. Its free statistics database stretches back 49 years and provides information and insight
into developments on global exchanges. The WFE works with standard-setters, policy makers,
regulators and government organisations around the world to support and promote the
development of fair, transparent, stable and efficient markets. The WFE shares regulatory
authorities’ goals of ensuring the safety and soundness of the global financial system.
With extensive experience of developing and enforcing high standards of conduct, the WFE and its
members support an orderly, secure, fair and transparent environment for investors; for companies
that raise capital; and for all who deal with financial risk. We seek outcomes that maximise the
common good, consumer confidence and economic growth. And we engage with policy makers and
regulators in an open, collaborative way, reflecting the central, public role that exchanges and CCPs
play in a globally integrated financial system.
