Safer, Better FX with
the Global Code

The Global Code is organised around six leading principles: ethics; governance; execution; information sharing; risk management and compliance; and confirmation and settlement processes. “In South Africa, the Global Code is coordinated through the Reserve Bank,” says Paizis, who sits on the South African Reserve Bank’s South African Foreign Exchange Committee (SAFXC). “Our domestic body includes representation from the large banks, second-tier banks, the buy side, the Banking Association South Africa, the treasury outsourcing community, as well as the ACI Financial Markets Association (a leading global trade association) and other relevant forums. This is all coordinated globally via a central committee.”

Paizis adds that South Africa is one of a handful of African countries to have adopted the Global Code. The country has been an integral part of the Global Code since the beginning because of the complexity and liquidity of the national FX market.

The Global Code aims to ensure that FX clients are treated fairly by liquidity providers. “As a bank, we’re doing this with the client at the centre of it,” says Paizis. “We ensure that, in our dealings with clients, we always reflect the principles ourselves while also holding others to account. In our dealings with, for example, the hedge fund and asset management communities, we ensure that we highlight our adherence to the Global Code and we encourage theirs.”

The same applies to treasury outsourcers or financial intermediaries. In this regard, Absa insists that any treasury outsourcer with whom the bank trades must adhere to the Global Code. “That’s carried through from the SAFXC, and in our dealings with client bodies like the Association of Corporate Treasurers.”