The Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA) is the voice for global capital markets. We bring together three of the world’s leading financial trade associations, AFME, ASIFMA and SIFMA, and represent the common interests of the world’s leading financial and capital market participants to speak for the industry on the most important global market issues.
GFMA’s Board of Directors has identified five main areas of focus. GFMA will continue its work in other capital markets and operations areas, but will work in particular to be a leading association on these five areas.
In addition, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has clear consequence for the global financial system and GFMA has directed attention to this topic and is helping the industry to engage with key policy makers on navigating this crisis, working with various assistance programmes, and assessing where other regulatory programmes can be adjusted to maintain focus on the nearer term challenges.
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Market Fragmentation
Market fragmentation, in which market liquidity is broken up as a consequence of disparate or incompatible regulatory or supervisory requirements across regions, hinders efficiency and raises costs at which financial services and products can be delivered across jurisdictions. GFMA has been and will continue to actively feed into the G20’s work on market fragmentation, as well as contribute to the review being led by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
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Sustainable Finance
Sustainable finance is a top priority for financial institutions. GFMA is working to provide a voice for the sell-side to global and regional deliberations that seek to establish efficient frameworks for sustainable finance, and mobilise funding.
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Operational Resilience
Operational resilience is concerned with how industry participants design plans to ensure the right people, processes and communication channels are identified in advance in the event of a disruption. GFMA, in collaboration with its regional affiliates (AFME, ASIFMA and SIFMA), is working towards the development of best practices on this topic. The consequences of COVID-19 have also stretched operational resilience as well as having broad and deep impact on financial markets.
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Opportunities and Risks from New Technology
As global financial institutions leverage emerging technologies throughout their business processes, GFMA is closely following developments to consider implications for the industry and policymakers. GFMA and PWC published a report, Technology and Innovation in Global Capital Markets, which examines the key trends which are expected to impact the industry over the next five years and provides a vision for the future and identifies the implications for the industry and for future policy making.
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Transition to New Reference Rates
As official sector working groups work towards the transition to new reference rates, GFMA and its three regional associations are complementing their work by building awareness of the working groups’ efforts and identifying potential challenges firms will face. GFMA will work with official sector steering groups, Basel Committee, FSB and others on how to mitigate regulatory risks from the interaction of the transition to new reference rates with ongoing implementation of regulatory and supervisory standards, and to help align the programmes against the backdrop of global interconnectedness of the markets for IBOR rates.
We look forward to continued engagement with regulators, industry and the broader financial community to maintain and strengthen the global capital markets, in the interest of efficient and sustained economic growth for all regions.
