Bank for International Settlements calls for wider adoption of global FX code

LONDON (Reuters) - Central bank umbrella group the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on Thursday called for more players in the $6.6 trillion a day global currency market to adopt the FX global code, as some major participants have yet to do so.

The code is a set of good market practices for the global foreign exchange market. A growing number of market participants have already posted Statements of Commitment signing up to it.

However, large buy-side participants such as asset management firms have not adopted the code, launched in 2017 by the Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC), a global association of FX committees that includes central banks as well as private sector participants.

"For the code to be successful, it is vital that market participants from all segments recognise that adherence to the code is an implicit part of their participation in the global FX market," said Jacqueline Loh, chair of the markets committee at the BIS, in a letter to Guy Debelle, chair of the GFXC.

Loh said one way to encourage buy-side adoption was to convince more senior people within the industry to sign the code.

Nearly three years after its launch, the code comes up for review this year because of the rapid rise of algorithmic trading - the mainstay of the generally opaque foreign exchange market, which now accounts for more than 80% of trades on some platforms.

The BIS also called for the code itself to promote more transparency and push for more disclosure of trading practices on anonymous trading and algorithmic trading platforms.

(Reporting by Olga Cotaga; Editing by Hugh Lawson)