The Last Look…
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: November 22, 2022
Before we go any further, a huge thank you to all the sponsors, speakers and attendees at last week’s 60th ACI World Congress, which was run in association with The Full FX. My thanks also to the teams from both organisations who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make it such a great success.
That said, the rest of this is going to be quick. Sitting on stage at last week’s most enjoyable conference in Paris, it struck me how much the industry needs events like this, and how ACI may, just may, be making a serous comeback.
It was a full house – we actually had to turn people away, which is a shame, but a better problem than dragging them off the street! – and the conversations were relevant, concise and, thankfully (although I did warn everyone beforehand) free from sales pitches.
It was great to sit in a room and hear central bankers, asset managers and corporates talk about their challenges, while also being able to hear from liquidity and technology providers. If nothing else, their first question was easy – how are you going to solve that person’s problem!
What was notable to me, however, was a very enjoyable mini-session at the end of the day when I sat down with two senior ACI people to ask, as I put it on the day, “all the questions I wanted to ask everybody else but was afraid to”. A very straight-talking, fast-paced and lively debate followed, full of challenges, but it was apparent that the people at the top of ACI not only understand the FX industry’s issues, but also have opinions on them.
This has not always been the way in the 21st century, but it revives a great tradition of ACI – The Financial Markets Association being a voice for the industry. This started, in my mind, with the Amicus Brief in the Mark Johnson trial, and is now continuing through actually having a position on the industry’s issues.
True, few members are from the traditional buy side (more are than before) but it is just as important that the banks, especially the large swathe of regional and specialist players, have a voice and are able to hear from experts about the changes influencing the FX industry (without it being a sales pitch).
It is my sincere hope that ACI gains momentum from this event and continues to rediscover its voice of authority and expertise in FX. Certainly what I heard off stage at the end of Thursday’s event made me think it has made a great start.