The FIX Protocol Ltd. (FPL) Global Steering Committee has announced the minutes of the action plans that it put into place at a meeting in London on 12 July 2007 at Credit Suisse’s Canary Wharf headquarters. Key topics discussed during the session included gaining traction in and awareness of the adoption of FIX across the asset classes, increasing the understanding of FIX usage across the globe and helping the industry realise the benefits that all the work on the development of the protocol was intended to achieve. Action plans that the FPL community says it will start to implement over the coming months include conducting an economic study highlighting the value of FIX adoption; gathering FIX usage statistics and case studies to increase awareness of FIX utilisation; raising the status of the FPL Exchanges and ECNs Working Group to that of a global FPL committee; and increasing technology-focused resources for FPL.
The strategy meeting was attended by industry leaders from the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Asia Pacific and Japan, including the organisation's Global Steering Committee co-chairs, Richard Balarkas, managing director, head of advanced execution services sales, Credit Suisse and Scott Atwell, manager of FIX trading and connectivity, American Century Investments. Additionally, there was representation from FPL's product committees. FPL aims to respond effectively to global changes in market structure, regulation and technology. The meeting provided an opportunity for its elected leaders to represent the views of the industry and ensure that the FIX Protocol is continually developed, managed and promoted in an efficient manner for the global financial services community, says the firm.