IGTA Journal - Summer 2018

Many of you have provided valuable feedback to MAS that there is further opportunity for price discovery of Asian FX trading to take place in Singapore. As Asia’s FX trading needs grow, and as electronification of Asian FX trading progresses, there is a need for a more efficient price discovery venue where pricing and matching of FX trades take place. We aim for Singapore to be the e-trading ecosystem in the region. We are encouraging and working with key FX players and platforms to anchor their e-trading facilities, matching and pricing engines in Singapore. As the e-trading ecosystem builds up, this will bring about better connectivity and latency; enhance pricing and trade execution; and improve clients’ trade fill-ratios and hence customer satisfaction, for market participants operating in Singapore and the Asia Pacific region. To date, MAS has received good interest from a strong pipeline of players – global tier 1 banks, non-banks and platforms – looking to set up their trading engines in Singapore. XTX Markets and our own home-grown Spark Systems are good examples of the first movers as a start. We will see more in time to come. 24 Next, skills. Complementing the business strategies and innovation agenda will be an active SkillsFuture programme to help the financial sector workforce build world-class skills. The financial industry is no stranger to transformation. It was not too long ago that exchanges were physical floor trading venues where buyers and sellers met and negotiated. But look at how that has changed today. The financial industry has been nimbler than other industries in the adoption of technology and data. As we enhance our market structure, analysis and business processes with the use of artificial intelligence (or AI), algorithmic trading, big data and coding skills, and new financial technology such as distributed ledger technology, the nature of job roles in the FX market will continue to evolve too. MAS and key industry associations such as ACI Singapore, the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF), Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS), are committed to equip our financial workforce with the necessary skills and knowledge through seminars and other training programmes. MAS will also continue to collaborate with financial institutions, the tripartite partners, and institutes of higher learning to build a strong local pipeline of specialised talent, particularly in areas such as information technology, computing, data analytics. 25 If we can do well in these two key areas, it will position our FX market and participants to capture growth opportunities and serve the needs of the Asian markets. Conclusion 26 Promoting and embedding the Code within the global FX market and in Singapore, is a journey that we have committed to. We hope that you can support these efforts, from your firms and in your individual capacity as market participants. 27 We have also co-created our medium term business strategies with market participants like yourselves, and we are committed to making them work, and bringing more innovation into the market place. 28 With this, I hope that you will have a productive and rewarding conference ahead. 5 / 5 BIS central bankers' speeches IGTA eJournal | Summer 2018 | 33