Central banks to create full global FX code by May 2017

[LONDON] A committee of major central banks aims to finish work on the first full global code of conduct to regulate the scandal-hit foreign exchange market by May of 2017, officials said on Wednesday.

The new code will deal with issues including time-stamping, how to deal with automatic stop loss orders and the difference between when banks are making markets themselves and when they are acting as agents for clients, Reserve Bank of Australia deputy governor Guy Debelle, told a briefing at the Bank of England.

He said the Markets Committee of the Bank of International Settlements, the central banks' central bank, saw devising a way to make banks and other participants stick to the new code was the biggest challenge.

"We are not trying to reinvent the wheel in this code, but build on what's there," Mr Debelle said. "There clearly needs to be a significant rebuilding of confidence in the way this market functions."

REUTERS