The World Federation of Exchanges launches the Exchange Manifesto to champion Exchanges as drivers of prosperity

The World Federation of Exchanges launches the Exchange Manifesto to champion Exchanges as drivers of prosperity

London, 20^th August 2025 – The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), the global industry association for exchanges and clearing houses, has launched an Exchange Manifesto, codifying the unique and irreplaceable value exchange groups bring to society at large.

As new governments roll out their policies, the WFE’s Manifesto calls attention to the essential role that exchanges play in powering growth, financial inclusion, and even systemic stability. It sets out ten core contributions exchanges make to the countries they serve.

The 10 pillars of the Exchange Manifesto:

• Give people a path to financial security, via inflation-beating shares
  They complete their offering with other products, such as fixed income.
• Help companies – new and old, large or SME – to prosper
  Listing is a platform for future funding, hiring and marketing – not just cash today.
• Provide a clear signal on the health of a country
  There is a mutually positive relationship with GDP increases.
• By supporting growth, contribute indirectly to tax revenues
  Also, financial services, with exchanges at the core, is a value-added industry.
• Channel funds in the necessary scale to strategic sectors (defence, medicine)
  Transitionals and new sectors benefit too (digitilisation, AI).
• Form the foundation for other financial markets
  Exchanges have a ‘halo’ effect, that makes other financial markets more credible.
• Attract international investment
  The profile and integrity of organised markets brings in foreign investors.
• Underpin insurance
  Insurers need to invest in growth and value assets and manage asset-price risk.
• Promote public engagement
  Access to capital markets and data reinforces social inclusion.
• Ensure system-wide soundness and resilience
  This is funding and investment, without credit crunches.

The WFE is urging policymakers and regulators to defend and strengthen public markets by recognising their strengths, promoting their benefits, and incentivising their use.

Nandini Sukumar, CEO of the WFE, said, “With new governments taking office around the world, it is timely to recall the importance of these market infrastructures, together with derivatives exchanges, and how they serve the economy. With their vitality under threat, regulators must take heed of what is at stake if we allow public markets to continue to decline, we risk losing the most transparent, resilient, and inclusive form of finance we have.”

Read the full paper here.

For more information, please contact:

Cally Billimore                                             

Communications Manager                      

[email protected]

+44 7391 204 007

 

About the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE):

Established in 1961, the WFE is the global industry association for exchanges and clearing houses. Headquartered in London, it represents over 250 market infrastructure providers, including standalone CCPs that are not part of exchange groups. Of our members, 37% are in Asia-Pacific, 43% in EMEA and 20% in the Americas. WFE’s 87 member CCPs and clearing services collectively ensure that risk takers post some $1.1 trillion (equivalent) of resources to back their positions, in the form of initial margin and default fund requirements. WFE exchanges, together with other exchanges feeding into our database, are home to over 49,054 listed companies, and the market capitalisation of these entities is $116.58 trillion; around $155 trillion (EOB) in trading annually passes through WFE members (at end 2024).

The WFE is the definitive source for exchange-traded statistics and publishes over 350 market data indicators. Its free statistics database stretches back more than 40 years and provides information and insight into developments on global exchanges. The WFE works with standard-setters, policy makers, regulators and government organisations around the world to support and promote the development of fair, transparent, stable and efficient markets. The WFE shares regulatory authorities’ goals of ensuring the safety and soundness of the global financial system.

With extensive experience of developing and enforcing high standards of conduct, the WFE and its members support an orderly, secure, fair and transparent environment for investors; for companies that raise capital; and for all who deal with financial risk. We seek outcomes that maximise the common good, consumer confidence and economic growth. And we engage with policy makers and regulators in an open, collaborative way, reflecting the central, public role that exchanges and CCPs play in a globally integrated financial system.

Website: www.world-exchanges.org

X: @TheWFE

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