LMAX Exchange CEO speaking at the World Exchange Congress – part 1

LMAX Exchange CEO, David Mercer, gave a speech at the World Exchange Congress 2015, on global capital markets and specifically about the FX market,  the world’s largest asset class. David puts forward the view that the long-term future of FX trading lies on exchange, as it  delivers the highest level of transparency and certainty of execution, compared to ECNs, dark pools or voice trading.

He continues, the FX market is under pressure due to lack of trust in the market place, and it is important for capital markets and FX markets to regain it. There’s a lack of transparency in FX,  a lack of transparency that can only exist in a bilateral OTC market place; and the opaque practice of ‘last look’, an option to reject or  re-quote an order by market makers, that further drives down the level of transparency in the market and reduces the certainty of execution. ‘Last Look’ is a relic of history and with it you can never prove best execution, it’s a one way option, to the benefit of a few but to the detriment of the many.

David states that LMAX Exchange fundamentally believes in a market structure that allows equal access and best execution, and by offering greater transparency, LMAX Exchange can be the change that the customer requires today. In terms of regulation, David suggests that regulators need to look at the spot market first rather than starting with Swaps and NDFs. He believes that by solving the spot market – by default one will solve the swap market.