Two veteran FX industry executives are starting a new consultancy company in London, focusing on a specific niche of the FX market. The FX Global Code of Conduct is one of the key areas of major change for the market in recent years and being long-term participants in the FX space, Nick Downes and Julian Gladwin, have united their efforts to launch Axiom Global Advisors.
The Co-Founders will specialise on the provision of an independent assessment of firms that need to adhere to the FX Global Code of Conduct. While the beginning of the implementation process of the code is its acceptance, the main responsibility for financial markets participants that accept it, will be to follow it.
Commenting on the code, Co-Founder of Axiom, Nick Downes, said: “The FX Global Code is a positive development for the FX market, but it should not be seen as a box-ticking exercise. Adherence is only the first step, and as the market evolves, so will the Global Code. Market Participants need to consider how and when they are going to review their adherence.”
The FX Global Code of Conduct was launched in May 2017 based on a set of global principles, which have been developed in a partnership between Central Banks and Market Participants. The goal of the document is to guide the market into a conduct that is based on integrity and effective functioning of the wholesale FX market.
Market Participants are expected to sign a commitment to the FXGC and post such evidence on public registers in order to be able to transact with major counterparties on the FX market. Starting from the central banks, FXGC adherence is about to become a key aspect of executing transactions on the global FX market. Clients, Liquidity providers, platforms, and infrastructures - basically all market participants are expected to regularly review their businesses and align their practices to the principles of the rules outlined in the code.
Combined Experience of Over Half a Decade
Axiom Global Advisors has been launched to address the need of companies to adhere to FX Global Code by following the independent analysis and recommendations of the team. Both of the consultancy’s founders have a combined experience of over half a decade on the financial markets.
Nick Downes has over 30 years of experience in the Global FX market. He is currently the CEO of FX Advisory Ltd, which is a consultancy that applies his extensive knowledge of FX, e-commerce, and technology to help clients optimize their FX Trading workflows. He is also helping the firms extract valuable information from their FX data flow.
During his vast career, Nick was Head of Electronic Distribution at Commerzbank AG, where he helped build the German bank's eFX capability. He previously held senior Sales, Trading and eFX roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citibank, UBS, and EBS.
Julian Gladwin worked in the financial industry for over 30 years. He is currently an Associate at the consultancy company Elixirr. Before that, he was a Director of Relationship Management at CLS, which is the FX settlement financial market utility. Throughout his career Julian has been focusing on FX, Risk, Transaction Banking and Securities Services, holding multiple international roles at Standard Chartered, Northern Trust, Lehman Brothers and PaineWebber.
“There is significant demand for a service that reviews adherence to the Global Code. Nick and I were originally approached by a regional Bank, which wanted an independent company to conduct a review of their FX procedures in relation to the Code. They contacted us because they specifically wanted a company with expertise in Wholesale FX, including execution, FX operations and technology,” elaborated on Axiom’s launch, Co-Founder Julian Gladwin.
