The foreign exchange industry's global trading association ended a European congress at the weekend set to pursue a drive to promote qualifications and best practice in the world's largest but least regulated market.
The foreign exchange industry's global trading association ended a European congress at the weekend set to pursue a drive to promote qualifications and best practice in the world's largest but least regulated market.
After a year marked by a rogue currency trader scandal and the collapse of energy giant Enron amid a complexity of financial deals, the Financial Markets Association (ACI) wants to pre-empt any pressure for greater market control by promoting its model code of practice in the $1.2-trillion-a-day market.
"We're talking about the biggest market in the world and the most transparent, and wholesale dealers don't need to pass any qualification," ACI President Heering Ligthart told Reuters yesterday at the end of business at the three-day congress.
"That will be the target in the next couple of years... We feel responsible for the smooth functioning of this market and as professionals we would like to say 'you are qualified'."
The meeting has included panels with representatives of the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA), the European Central Bank (ECB) and Luxembourg's own supervisory authority in a drive by the ACI to foster discussion between the market and regulators.
The 500 or so delegates also heard views from ECB council member and Luxembourg central bank chief Yves Mersch and Czech central bank governor Zdenek Tuma on challenges for countries hoping to joining the European Union and eventually the euro. Enron's collapse, Argentina's debt default and devaluation, and the currency trading scandal at Allfirst, the US subsidiary of Allied Irish Banks were all chewed over.