The$5.4 trillion foreign exchange market now has a trade group.
Today marks the launch of the Foreign Exchange Professionals Association. Based in Washington, DC, FXPA’s aim is to engage key US and international regulators, policymakers, the general public and news media, through a combination of education, research and advocacy to advance a sound, liquid, transparent and competitive global currency market.
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Diversity of membership is embedded in FXPA’s organizational construct to ensure wide representation of the professional FX market. Founding members epitomize this diversity – including the buyside, exchanges, clearing houses, trading platforms, MTFs, technology companies, banks and non-bank market participants. FXPA launched with membership from The Bank of New York Mellon, CalPERs, Campbell & Company, Citadel LLC, CME Group, GFI Group, LCH.Clearnet, LMAX Exchange, Traiana and Virtu Financial. Squire Patton Boggs serves as counsel to the FXPA.
FXPA elected Adam Cooper, Senior Managing Director and Chief Legal Officer of Citadel LLC, as Chairman; Derek Sammann, Senior Managing Director, Global Head of Commodity and Options Products, CME Group as Vice Chair; Craig Messinger, Executive Vice President, Global Head of Trading and Risk for Foreign Exchange, Derivatives, Fixed Income and Equities at BNY Mellon Global Markets, as Treasurer; and Eric Busay, Portfolio Manager, CalPERS as Secretary on September 16. In addition to the four officers, initial founding board members include Chris Concannon, President & COO, Virtu Financial; Patrick Bartle, Global Head of FX Strategy, LMAX Exchange; Mark Sandomeno, Manager, GFI Emerging Markets, GFI Group; Gavin Wells, Global Head of CDSClear & ForexClear, LCH.Clearnet.
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According to FXPA, it fills a gap in the industry for a trade association that can provide strong advocacy for the FX industry as a whole. FXPA’s initiatives will be member-driven and addressed by consensus, with a primary objective of educating regulators and policymakers.
“As technological innovation, new competitive forces, and an evolving regulatory framework redefine the FX landscape, we must promote market structure that fosters robust, efficient and transparent markets for all participants,” Citadel’s Cooper said. “FX is a cornerstone to our capital markets, and the FXPA is the ideal vehicle to strengthen collaboration across the industry and engagement with policymakers to achieve these shared objectives.”
The FXPA will consider such issues as: global FX market regulation; benchmark rates; risk controls and best practices; execution quality; post-trade reporting; and clearing of non-deliverable forwards.
