FIA President and CEO Walt Lukken and other FIA representatives travelled to China on May 24-25 to meet with high-level government officials and industry executives. The purpose of the trip was to strengthen FIA's existing relationships in China, gather information on current developments in China, share information on international market developments, and explore the potential for further cooperation.
The meetings included visits with the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the China Futures Association and the Shanghai International Energy Exchange. The discussions covered a wide range of topics, including the development of rules for automated trading and international access to futures contracts such as the crude oil futures contract awaiting launch on INE and the iron ore futures contract currently trading on the Dalian Commodity Exchange.
The FIA representatives also visited Japan on May 26, where they met with representatives of exchanges, clearinghouses and government regulators. The discussions covered topics such as clearinghouse recovery and resolution, third country recognition, and error trade policies. They also met with the board of FIA Japan to discuss formalizing the relationship between FIA Japan and FIA and further strengthen information-sharing and cooperation in advocacy and member activities.
Lukken was accompanied by Bill Herder, head of Asia-Pacific, and Phuong Trinh, vice president for legal and policy, Asia-Pacific.
"I came away from our meetings in China with a renewed optimism that China’s futures markets will continue to open to international participation," said Lukken. "It was clear from our conversations that there is widespread recognition that international participation can help stabilize the Chinese markets. I was pleased to share my insights on trends in the global derivatives markets as well as the lessons learned from regulatory reform and accompanying best practices developed by FIA members."
"Our visit to Japan was equally productive with a healthy dialogue on ways that FIA can further strengthen its close relationship with FIA Japan and work together with Japanese regulators and exchanges on various regulatory issues,” Lukken added.
