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Mr. Massimo Capuano, President of FESE and President and CEO of Borsa Italiana opened the Convention. In warmly welcoming the more than 300 delegates, he stressed that customer satisfaction is by far the most important criterion for an Exchange´s business.
In the past, Exchanges had only one business model. Most of them were owned by their intermediaries and regulated for their benefit and the benefit of companies and investors. Today there are many models. It is crucial that Exchanges continue to offer their own business model, leaving it to the market to decide the most appropriate one.
FESE and its Members believe that European electronic exchanges should have been able to place trading screens in the US many years ago. They hope to see progress in this respect since SEC Chairman Donaldson was serious when he said that he wanted to take steps in this dossier before the end of the year. Mr. Capuano felt that if the screen issue is resolved, it should help to increase liquidity in the markets and allow the Exchanges to serve American and non-American customers even better.
The list of keynote speakers at the Convention included: Hans Eichel, Finance Minister of Germany, Alexander Schaub, Director General for the Internal Market European Commission, Klaus Zumwinkel, CEO, Deutsche Post AG.
The keynote speakers agreed that the business of Exchanges is extremely important for the further development of the European economy in the interest of both investors and companies.
Mr. Zumwinkel, applying the model of customer satisfaction and shareholder interest to his company and indirectly to Exchanges’ business, underlined the importance of Exchanges listening to customers and their needs. Minister Eichel gave an overview of German and Atlantic issues, clearly identifying the core challenges for Exchanges and market participants in the present day. He assured Exchanges of his support for performing their essential role in the economy. He, as well as Mr. Schaub, referred to the necessity of further strengthening the Trans-Atlantic dialogue. Mr. Schaub stressed the progress of the Financial Services Action Plan and further legislative and regulatory plans in the interest of fostering the integrated internal market for all 25 Member States in the global context. He highlighted the importance of real integration and presented some elements of the Commission’s study on this issue.
Professor Shiller gave a dinner speech describing the blooming perspectives for the financial sector and presented the future trends in securities markets.
The Convention included several highly interesting panel debates on the different customer groups of Exchanges: Intermediaries, International Information Service Providers, Transatlantic Markets, Relations with Regulators, Investors and Issuers. Without exception all were extremely relevant to participants and important for the present and the future business of Securities Exchanges. Presentations given and transcripts of the discussion will be put on the FESE web site.
The Convention was closed with remarks from Mr. Jukka Ruuska, Vice President of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges. He underlined that it had been a pleasure for the Federation to return to Frankfurt where the series of successful FESE Conventions had started eight years ago.
Mr Ruuska expressed the appreciation of all participants for the excellent guidance of the Convention by William Wright, Editor of Financial News.
For further information, please contact the FESE Secretariat.
Paul Arlman
Secretary General
