The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission held the first meeting of the Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC) on 13 February, the first meeting under the sponsorship of Commissioner Caroline Pham.
In her opening statement, Commissioner Pham laid out an ambitious agenda for the GMAC, noting that this first meeting will be an overview “of the most significant current and emerging issues in global markets and the financial system.” Commissioner Pham continued that “this meeting will help to identify the work program and priorities for the GMAC over the next two years.”
The meeting featured a robust agenda, including keynote remarks from high level officials at the US Department of Treasury and the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services, and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA) of the European Commission, as well as over 25 presentations from GMAC members focusing on timely global market structure issues, including issues related to trading and liquidity, clearing, and trade reporting. Discussions also included a focus on commodity market volatility, including a focus on market disruptions, and digital asset markets, including a focus on use cases and blockchain technology.
GMAC also formally voted to establish the three subcommittees – a Global Market Structure Subcommittee, a Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee, and a Technical Issues Subcommittee.
FIA Presentation at the GMAC Meeting
Jackie Mesa, FIA’s Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Global Policy, serves as FIA’s representative on the advisory committee. During the meeting, Mesa presented about the independent review conducted by Oliver Wyman of the nickel market disruption on the London Metal Exchange. Mesa emphasized the importance of exchanges having robust volatility control mechanisms in place and highlighted that the report following the independent review made over 30 recommendations, including:
- Monitoring and addressing risks in the OTC market
- Setting position/accountability limits that are tailored to the market/product
- Putting in place volatility controls to slow down extreme price movements (circuit breakers)
- Rehearsing default management, such as orderly closing out positions
- Providing a clear vision for how LME will respond to events and rebuild liquidity
A full copy of FIA's presentation is available here.
Statements and additional documents
- Statement of Commissioner Caroline D. Pham
- Statement of Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson
- Statement of Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero
- Meeting Materials
