The WFE's Annual Meeting
Conference Programme
DAY 1 - Tue 27 Sep
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08:00 - 20:00:
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09:00 - 12:00:
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12:00 - 14:00:
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14:00 - 15:40:
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17:30 - 19:15:
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19:30 - 21:30:
DAY 2 - Wed 28 Sep
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08:00 - 16:00:
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08:00 - 10:30:
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10:30 - 10:45:
Opening Ceremony of the Annual Meeting and Welcome Remarks
All Participants
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10:45 - 11:00:
Session 1: Opening Address: Dr Robert Abela, The Prime Minister of Malta
Speaker
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11:00 - 11:15:
Session 2: Keynote Speech: Summer Mersinger, Commissioner, Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Speaker
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11:15 - 12:15:
Session 3: Resilience & Recovery: The Role of Market Infrastructure through the pandemic and beyond
As the pandemic struck, exchanges and CCPs moved swiftly and smoothly to operate remotely, running markets, both big and small, virtually. What were the greatest challenges and how did the industry conquer them? What lessons have we learned from the last few years? How has that changed us an industry? What were, and are, the greatest opportunities? What hasn’t changed for the industry? As operational resilience remains a focus for all, how can market infrastructures help the sell-side and others in the ecosystem? Which of the pandemic themes, like ESG, the rise of the retail investor and the growth of tokenized securities, will endure? What are some of the new public markets, like carbon markets, that will emerge in coming years? What policy levers do we need to nurture & grow public markets given incentive structures currently favour private or OTC markets to the detriment of transparency? What does the future look like?
Moderator
Speakers
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12:15 - 12:45:
Session 4: Fireside Chat: Professor Edward Scicluna, Governor, Central Bank of Malta in conversation with Nandini Sukumar, Chief Executive Officer, The World Federation of Exchanges
Speakers
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12:45 - 13:30:
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13:30 - 13:45:
Session 5: Keynote Speech: Marie E. Dzanis, Head of Asset Management EMEA and Chief Executive Officer, Northern Trust Asset Management
Speaker
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13:45 - 14:45:
Session 6: L is for Liquidity
Liquidity is the fundamental building block of healthy, thriving markets. What brings liquidity to an exchange? How can exchanges design markets to maximise liquidity? Does venue competition lead to liquidity fragmentation? What does the rise of the retail investor mean for liquidity in markets? What does the crypto market teach us about liquidity? Can there ever be too much liquidity? How can emerging markets build liquidity effectively and how does that differ from large, developed markets?
Moderator
Speakers
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14:45 - 15:45:
Session 7: Squaring the circle - global markets and fragmenting regulation
Even as the last three years demonstrated how interconnected the world is, regulation continues to fragment markets and impede their ability to function effectively. Which issues are most damaging? Which are avoidable? How can exchanges and CCPs help solve some of these issues? How can the ecosystem work together to resolve some of the impediments? As sanctions are likely to be part of life for years to come, how can market infrastructures work with regulators, investors and other stakeholders to find a solution to common problems? What is the importance of high-quality market data in achieving better outcomes for investors? Will regulatory fragmentation affect developed and emerging markets differently? Will it affect large, mid-size and small markets differently? What are the regulatory themes that will shape markets in years to come?
Moderator
Speakers
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16:00 - 17:15:
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18:30 - 22:00:
DAY 3 - Thu 29 Sep
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08:30 - 16:00:
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09:00 - 10:00:
Session 8: Innovation in Technology
Technology is the lifeblood of modern markets. As the industry seeks to serve investors and stakeholders better, what are the trends shaping modern market infrastructure? As public markets move to the cloud, what comes next? What is the role of DLT? How can we guard against cyber threats as they remain in constant evolution? What’s the next big technological innovation?
Moderator
Speakers
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10:00 - 10:15:
Session 9: Keynote Speech: Tajinder Singh, Deputy Secretary General, International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)
Speaker
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10:15 - 11:15:
Session 10: The Crypto Market: so near and yet so far
Amid the hype, the scandal, the fear and the greed, what does the rise of the crypto universe tell us about financial markets? What are potential structures for an exchange that wants to operate a crypto business? How are the true exchanges, regulated as such, innovating to extend into this asset class? What would be an optimal market design for a regulated crypto exchange? What can exchanges learn from the phenomena? How would appropriate regulation and investor protection look like for this market? How can we as an industry balance innovation with our role as the trusted guardians of financial markets to ensure we bring crypto investors onto exchange?
Moderator
Speakers
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11:15 - 12:15:
Session 11: Building the Market Infrastructure of the Future - Into the Next Decade
Technological innovation has forced regulators and industry to re-examine some fundamental questions about how market infrastructure operates and how it can evolve to meet new demands. New trading platforms offering cheap execution and easy access, with or without a central node; new tokenized stocks that can be traded 24/7; or disintermediated clearing models promising democratized access to clearing, are just three examples of new market paradigms often presented in a narrative that mixes technological novelty with libertarian aims, but which tends to ignore the considerable risks involved, the lack of standards, or the absence of investor protections. How should exchanges respond to these changes so they can remain at the front of market innovation while preserving trust in the system?
Moderator
Speakers
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12:15 - 12:30:
Session 12: Keynote Speech: Hon. Clyde Caruana, Minister for Finance and Employment, Ministry for Finance and Employment
Speaker
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12:30 - 13:30:
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13:30 - 14:30:
Session 13: Indexing the Future
‘’Successful investing is anticipating the anticipations of others,’’ said John Maynard Keynes. The index business is core to market infrastructure and to the innovation and services that exchanges offer. What do trends here have to show us about the future? How did the index industry deal with the stress test that was the pandemic? Does the market structure work? How has the surge in demand for ESG products changed the industry? Is the appetite for ESG indexes insatiable? What is the future for fixed income indexes? What do exchanges need from index providers and vice versa?
Moderator
Speakers
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14:30 - 14:45:
Session 14: Keynote Speech: Gabriela Figueiredo Dias, Chair, International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA)
Speaker
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14:45 - 15:45:
Session 15: What is Green?
As ESG continues to dominate the policy agenda, the definition of ‘green’ remains a significant challenge. What is the role of the exchange and our industry in this debate? How do we define green across the spectrum of financial market innovation? How do we reduce green washing? With disclosures and ratings coming increasingly into focus, the need for an accepted framework is pressing. Yet debate continues around the extent of disclosures and how they should be verified. How can we verify better? The panel will assess where the financial services industry is on this journey and how further progress can be made.
Moderator
Speakers
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15:45 - 16:15:
Closing Remarks, thanks to the host and invitation to the 2023 Annual Meeting
All Participants
Venue: Hilton Malta Hotel
Speakers
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16:30 - 19:00:
DAY 4 - Fri 30 Sep
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09:15 - 22:15: