The WFE's Annual Meeting
Conference Programme
Pre-Conference Tour - Sun 17 Nov
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08:00 - 20:00:
DAY 1 - Tue 19 Nov
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08:00 - 17:00:
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09:00 - 13:00:
Working Committee Meeting: Joint Dialogue Between Securities Commission (SC) Malaysia and World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)
WFE Members, SC Malaysia Guests & Speakers only
Speakers
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13:00 - 14:00:
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14:00 - 17:00:
WFE Board of Directors Meeting
WFE Board of Directors only
Speakers
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18:30 - 21:00:
DAY 2 - Wed 20 Nov
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08:00 - 16:30:
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08:00 - 10:00:
WFE General Assembly
WFE Members only
Speakers
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10:00 - 10:15:
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10:15 - 10:30:
Opening Ceremony of the Annual Meeting and Welcome Remarks
All Participants
Speakers
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10:30 - 10:45:
Session 1: Special Address
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10:45 - 11:15:
Session 2: Fireside Chat: Capital Markets in Malaysia – The Way Forward
Moderator
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11:15 - 12:45:
Session 3: What is an Exchange?
As our industry evolves: exchange, CCP and CSD, what is the modern exchange and market infrastructure of today? What makes for a good market infrastructure provider? Has that changed? Will those attributes change? Should they change?
Moderator
Presenter
Presenters
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Jos Dijsselhof
Chief Executive Officer, SIX Group and Vice Chair The World Federation of Exchanges
Jos Dijsselhof joined SIX in January 2018 as CEO. He holds degrees in computer science and business administration, and has a long track record in international management in the financial sector. He has previously held positions at ABN Amro Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and ANZ Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in various countries including Hong Kong and Singapore. His most recent role was Chief Operating Officer (2014–June 2017) and CEO ad interim (2015) at Euronext in Amsterdam.
Other Activities and Mandates
Chairman of the Board of Directors Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME), Madrid
Background
Before his appointment as COO of Euronext, Dijsselhof was a general manager at Australia and New Zealand Bank in Singapore. He has over 20 years of experience in the financial industry and has worked in Europe and Asia institutions including Royal Bank of Scotland and ABN Amro Bank.
Education
Jos Dijsselhof earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from the Stenden University of Applied Sciences and an MSc in business administration from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. He completed the Advanced Management Program at INSEAD.
Carlson Tong
Chairman Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing
Kendal Vroman
Chief Transformation Officer CME Group
Kendal (Ken) Vroman serves as CME Group’s Chief Transformation Officer. He is responsible for overseeing the company’s migration process as part of its 10-year partnership with Google Cloud to transform global derivatives markets through cloud adoption. He also leads the planning and execution function across the organization.
Prior to assuming his current role, he most recently served as Senior Managing Director, International and Optimization Services.
Since joining the company in 2001, Vroman has held a variety of senior leadership roles including Managing Director of Planning and Execution, Global Head of Commodity Products and OTC Solutions, and Managing Director and Chief Corporate Development Officer. Vroman played a key leadership role in integration planning associated with the NEX acquisition in 2018, the CME/CBOT merger in 2007, the historic CME/CBOT clearing agreement in 2003-2004 and the company's initial public offering in 2002.
Before joining the company, he worked as Vice President, Corporate Operations/Chief of Staff to the Chief Executive Officer for marchFIRST Inc. from 1999-2001. At marchFIRST, he handled a variety of executive level project management tasks, including integrating staff and operations during the 2000 merger of USWeb/CKS and Whittman-Hart. Prior to the merger, Vroman served as Principal for Whittman-Hart’s
Collaborative Technologies Group from 1995-99. He also worked as a Senior Consultant for Andersen Consulting LLP’s Americas Information Systems Division.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in applied computer science from Illinois State University and a master’s of management degree, with an emphasis in finance and marketing, from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
12:45 - 14:00:14:00 - 15:00:Session 4: Beyond the Monopoly Myth: Rethinking Competition in Financial Markets
Exchanges face intense competition on every front: from private markets & crowd sourcing platforms in primary markets to alternative trading systems or internalisation of order flow focused on secondary markets. The data and index businesses are highly competitive and exchanges also compete with each other globally and regionally. So why does the myth of the monopoly persist? How do exchanges navigate competition with alternative trading systems? What are the main factors driving companies to seek capital outside of traditional exchange listings? How can regulators ensure a level playing field between exchanges and other markets? What are the risks of pushing companies into alternative markets, and how can they be mitigated? What should be the role of policymakers in balancing competition whilst reducing fragmentation in financial services? In what ways can exchanges innovate to remain attractive to issuers and investors alike?
Moderator
Speakers
15:00 - 16:00:Session 5: Tradition & Innovation: Celebrating the Strengths of Traditional Financial Markets in the Age of Crypto
“When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don’t just turn it off one day” - Chinua Achebe.
What is the enduring value of traditional financial services, such as exchange trading and central counterparty clearing (CCPs), in contrast to the promises of crypto markets and decentralised finance (DeFi)? What lessons can be drawn from both traditional finance (TradFi) and emerging crypto markets? Why are some innovations, like distributed ledger technology (DLT), yet to achieve widespread adoption? What are the core strengths of traditional financial markets that continue to provide stability and trust to investors? Why has disintermediation in financial services not lived up to its hype, and what risks does it present? How can traditional financial services adapt lessons from crypto markets without compromising on safety and regulation? What are the critical factors holding back the widespread adoption of DLT in traditional financial services? The WFE's paper on tokenisation looks at how, in the right environments, tokenised conventional assets should be seen as a creative and modern version of traditional finance that offers new possibilities to investors and market players, so looking forward, how should traditional financial institutions approach innovation while maintaining their foundational principles?
Speakers
16:15 - 17:30:WFE Board of Directors Meeting
WFE Board Members only
Speakers
18:30 - 21:00:DAY 3 - Thu 21 Nov
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08:00 - 16:00:
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09:00 - 09:30:
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09:30 - 10:30:
Session 6: United We Stand: How can a region grow through collaboration?
What is the role of exchanges in supporting the development of this diverse and fast-growing region? What are the regulatory and the business priorities for markets in the region? How are exchanges enhancing market access for domestic and international investors? What role do initiatives like Depositary Receipts (DRs) have to play? How are exchanges in the region tackling sustainability challenges? What does meaningful collaboration look like among exchanges here with different priorities for market development?
Moderator
Speakers
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10:30 - 11:30:
Session 7: OECD Presentation & Discussion
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11:30 - 12:00:
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12:00 - 13:00:
Session 8: The Great Listings Debate: IPO Winter or Emerging Phoenix?
The IPO market has seen a significant decline in recent years, with 2021 standing out as an exception. What are the key factors driving this trend? Why are we seeing a rising share of IPOs from emerging markets even as private equity continues to grow? Still, in spite of the bleak headlines, companies do still list – why? Is the private equity pipeline becoming more important to the listings business? What is the role of the cross-border IPO. How important are derivatives as a complement to listed equity, including for companies that are newly listed Does the system reward patient capital sufficiently? How important is the role of public price-signalling and short-term liquidity?
Moderator
Speakers
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13:00 - 14:00:
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14:00 - 14:45:
Session 9: Bridging Markets and Biodiversity – In conversation with Jane Goodall
Fireside Chat: Dr Jane Goodall of Jane Goodall Institute & Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar, Chairman of Bursa Malaysia & Chairman of WWF-Malaysia
In financial services and industry, we often live in cities, far removed from nature. This urban environment can sometimes feel like a hermetically sealed bubble, causing us to forget how deeply our products—and our well-being—depend on the natural world and the health of other species. Our conversation with Jane Goodall is a chance to reconnect with these critical links and to inspire practical action in protecting our shared environment.
Moderators
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14:45 - 15:30:
Session 10: The Great Settlement Debate: To T+1 or Not
T+1 has become a prominent issue, particularly since the SEC pushed for its introduction in the US in May 2024, with a number of jurisdictions in the Americas moving at the same time. Now other countries are planning to join the club, all subscribing to the view that ‘time is risk’. In particular, the EU, Switzerland and the UK are committed to change but are taking more time than the US did, in the interests of maximizing participant preparedness. And any such move does have its challenges: not only the direct operational issues of ensuring timely trade confirmations and cash liquidity but also concerns with related transactions in FX (which mean participants may have to borrow in the local currency, creating credit exposures). Moreover, there seem to be limits on the ‘time is risk’ equation, with T+1 being the natural limit to efficiency gains. In this panel we will look at why jurisdictions move or wait to move to T+1? What are the underlying factors that a market needs to move successfully to T+1? How difficult was it or would it be to move to T+1 in any jurisdiction? What is the fundamental benefit to moving to T+1? What are the issues with moving to T+1? In 5 years time are we likely to have widespread adoption of T+1 in markets around the world?
Moderator
Speakers
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15:30 - 16:30:
Session 11: Living in the New World
Exchanges and Market Infrastructure providers are always affected by political change even while our industry’s role is to ensure that markets operate, develop, stay open and work smoothly regardless of the change. No other industry is as profoundly affected. The last year has seen about 1.5 billion people go to the polls with elections taking place in more than 50 countries which between them hold almost half of the world’s population, according to Kings College London estimates.
How do exchanges navigate such change even while remaining true to their foundational principles? In recent years, we have witnessed a significant rise in political polarization both within and between countries. This growing divide poses potential risks to the integrity of financial systems, leading to increased frictions that hinder optimal capital allocation. How can exchanges maintain financial system integrity and minimize frictions in politically polarized environments? With the rise in international political tensions, financial sanctions are becoming more common, what regulatory measures can exchanges implement to cushion the impact of these sanctions? How can global financial institutions adapt to varying regulatory standards driven by polarized political climates? How can technological advancements and financial innovations be leveraged to mitigate the adverse effects of political polarization on financial systems? What strategies can be implemented to ensure financial stability and inclusion in politically polarized environments? How does political polarization affect global efforts to achieve net zero emissions, and what can financial institutions do to support these goals amidst a divided political landscape?
Moderator
Speakers
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16:30 - 16:45:
Closing Remarks, thanks to the host and invitation to the 2025 Annual Meeting
All Participants
Speaker
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17:00 - 19:30:
Post-Conference Tour - Fri 22 Nov
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08:30 - 18:00:
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