Global regulators are calling on more financial firms, particularly asset managers, to embrace a voluntary code designed to discourage misconduct in the global foreign exchange (FX) markets.
The so-called FX Global Code was introduced in 2017 to address some of the questionable practices in the global FX markets that were revealed amid greater scrutiny of wholesale financial markets that followed the LIBOR market manipulation scandal.
On Thursday, the Bank for International Settlements’ (BIS) Markets Committee published a report evaluating the code’s efficacy, which, the BIS found, has room for improvement.
In particular, this BIS found that only a few of the largest players on the buy side have implemented the code. “As [buyers’] share in global FX trading increases further, it is important that they adopt the code to ensure a fair and effective FX market for all,” the report said.
Among other things, the BIS said that the Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC), which is the global association that developed the code, should be advocating for wider adoption on the buy side. The report also said that transparency and disclosure on anonymous trading platforms should be improved.
“For the code to be successful, it is vital that market participants from all segments recognise that adherence to the code is an implicit part of their participation in the global FX market,” said Jacqueline Loh, chair of the BIS Markets Committee in a letter to Guy Debelle, chair of the GFXC.
Mark Carney, chair of a group of central bankers known as the Global Economy Meeting, said that the code has helped improve standards of behaviour in FX markets. He added that the GEM is looking forward to the code’s review by the GFXC later this year.