°ϲʹ FMA Insights Nº 4
We are delighted to inform that the 4th edition of the °ϲʹ FMA Insights Newsletter has been launched and it's available!
In this new number, you can find the important input of Kim Winding Larsen, °ϲʹ FMA President, interesting contributions from Rui Correia, Chair of the Board of Education and Alan Scott, Chair of the Crypto Working Group and the testimony of Mohammed Al Hashemi, °ϲʹ Middle East President.
The objective of the °ϲʹ FMA Insights Newsletter is to bring news and updates from °ϲʹ FMA activitiesto all our global °ϲʹ members, on a quarterly basis.
°ϲʹ FMA are longstanding proponents and influencers of ethical conduct and good market practices to all financial market professionals.
Welcome from °ϲʹ FMA President
°ϲʹ FMA began 2021 with renewed energy, hope for the New Year, and has immediately started to work on a new project related to Education, one of the core values that rule the Association and that should be, in my opinion, a priority for governments worldwide.
Continuing the work started in 2020, °ϲʹ FMA invested more time and devoted more resources to release the latest Education videos. These instruments, as well as the previous ELAC videos, that were disclosed the last summer, are available to the financial market’s community. These videos are important means to spreading the °ϲʹ FMA messages and, mainly, to promote the vast educational offer available to the industry. Bearing in mind the goals set in this area, this year we will continue to develop products, new content and initiatives aimed at improving our education program and benefitting our members. °ϲʹ FMA hopes that the products and services offered are an asset to those who use them.
In this edition, you can find a very interesting contribution from Rui Correia, Chair of the Board of Education, a CWG insight through the vision of Alan Scott and finally, the testimony of Mohammed Al Hashemi whose mandate has come to an end after 6 years as the °ϲʹ Middle East President. I take this opportunity to thank Mohammed Al Hashemi for the extraordinary work done for the Middle East Region and °ϲʹ FMA as a whole. Faithfully,
Kim Winding Larsen, °ϲʹ FMA President
Message from °ϲʹ FMA Middle-East President
It was a great honor to be part of the °ϲʹ FMAmanagement board and president of °ϲʹ Middle Eastduring the past 6 years as we have worked closely indeveloping the region’s awareness about the FX Global
Code, ELAC and accredited Certifications.°ϲʹ FMA has grown to be recognized by various CentralBanks and Financial Institutions across the region.During the past few years, we have seen growth in the number of Members associating with °ϲʹ FMA.
The °ϲʹ Middle East region has successfully hosted the2017 ICA Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and, for the first time, thejoint °ϲʹ ICA Financial Markets World Congress in 2018 was held in Cairo,Egypt. The region is also currently preparing to host the °ϲʹ ICA FinancialMarkets World Congress joint conference, for the second time, from the 17thto the 20th November 2021 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported meduring my term as °ϲʹ Middle East president and wish the upcomingnominated president the best of luck.
Mohammed Al Hashemi, °ϲʹ Middle East President
Message from Chair of Board of Education
A long, long time ago, more specifically in June 1964,Malcolm X, the famous human rights activist, stated in aforum that “Education is our passport to the future, fortomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare for ittoday”. As a proud representative of °ϲʹ FMA Education,I firmly believe that this quote will always represent thekey role that ongoing learning plays in our personal andprofessional lives.
Financial markets are dynamic and changes in theirenvironment can happen very quickly, so it is absolutelyessential that all professionals involved in these markets are willing to enhancetheir knowledge on acontinuously basis. For that to happen, appropriate andupdated educational tools must be at their disposal, regardless of where thesemarket participants are located in the world.To support this, the Board of Education (BOE) at °ϲʹ FMA is always looking to enhance our offering of training and certification methodologies, so that itscontent remains updated and relevant to face the latest market developments.
With members from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania, the BOEwelcomes and regularlydiscusses all ideas that seek the development of oureducational contribution to the members of °ϲʹ FMA and to the financialmarket industry as a whole.
2020 was an important year in that regard, as we have spent significant timeupdating our exams, launchingprojects for our e-learning tool (ELAC) andimplementing new training channels. But our work continues daily, as we aimto grow and keep delivering the best educational instruments for financial
markets… because the future starts today, not tomorrow.
Rui Correia, Chair Board of Education
Message from Chair of Crypto Working Group
The Crypto Working Group has been established in 2019 andhas been working primarily in:
- Changes and evolution within regulatory regimes;
- Progress on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) as well as other stablecoins such as Tether and Facebook'sDiem;
- What code of conduct should it back or develop for useby the °ϲʹ membership.
The Working Group is actively monitoring developments and has noticed thefollowing trends:
- Stablecoins: In January 308 USD billion of transactions were processed using stablecoins andthey are increasingly being used by Institutions as atemporary store of value onallocation/reallocation decisions.
- Crypto: Such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are behaving more like aninvestment instrument wherethe primary motivation is around returnrather than as a currency.
- Assets: The representation of real-world assets such as equities, art and gold with tokens toenable efficient trading and settlement areincreasingly being explored.
There are a number of different kinds of Digital currency also being explored byCentral Banks, Commercial Banks and Private Sector players.
The larger Banks are getting serious with significant investments not just inlearning but also now in doing.
It is believed many Banks will bypass the development of a custody service and gostraight to setting up trading desks with connectivity to a number of services andsettlement solutions.
DeFI (distributed finance infrastructure by engineered protocols) which is growingrapidly with some 35 USD Billion under management, will be a difficult challengefor regulators as it is difficult to identify which entity is responsible for whatactivity.
With CBDC’s we are seeing in many cases Central Banks leading Commercial Banksin innovation which is the opposite of what normally happens with a newtechnology.
We firmly believe that Crypto or the broader definition of digital assets will be adriving force in shaping the future banking industry and its associatedinfrastructure.
Alan Scott, Chair Crypto Working Group