A year on from the publication of the FX Global Code in May 2017, adoption of the new conduct blueprint is finally gaining traction, but work remains to ensure it continues to reflect market practice and is widely adopted among buy-side firms.
According to the Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC), which was formed last year to promote and maintain the code, 123 statements of commitment had been posted to eight public registers by April 12.
Adoption has continued to increase since then, and all of the top 10 FX banks from the 2017 Euromoney survey have now signed up. But some practitioners are concerned that adherence is not consistent across the whole market and more should be done to drive buy-side adoption.
“Enforcing the code could be challenging, as institutions have committed to it at different organizational levels and it needs to be enforced consistently across the buy side as well as the sell side. We are committed to its success and to making sure it is widely adopted and evolves without the need for it to become regulation,” says Sean Comer, global chief operating officer for foreign exchange and commodities at HSBC.