A collective of industry associations, ASIFMA, Quorum 15, Asia TraderForum, the FIX Trading Community engaged in a collaborative to established a consistent approach for issuing Indications of Interest.

Published by: Regulation Asia| 10th November 2020

ASIFMA, Quorum 15, Asia TraderForum, the FIX Trading Community and their members have established a consistent approach for issuing Indications of Interest.

A collective of industry associations have together launched The Asia Pacific IOI Charter, providing guidance for all market participants who issue Indications of Interest (IOIs) and the recipients that react to them on a bilateral basis.

An IOI is a conditional, non-binding interest in buying a security that is currently in registration. The Charter has been created to provide transparency and consistency of approach across participants for trading throughout the APAC region, building on internationally recognised standards.

The initiative is the result of extensive cross-industry cooperation between buy-side and sell-side participants via their respective industry associations, including ASIFMA, Quorum 15, Asia TraderForum and the FIX Trading Community.

The Charter is supported by a due diligence questionnaire, designed to support dialogue between buy side and sell side firms and bring clarity to IOI definitions and practices.

The Charter is open to all market participants and is designed as a working document to address practical challenges they face in APAC markets. The industry organisations involved may periodically engage with stakeholders to determine whether further clarifications are required.

These documents are available here, along with the list of firms who agree in principle with the content of the Charter and are working to implement and align their procedures, behaviours, and internal policies with the Charter by the end of 2020.

These firms include Alliance Bernstein, Barclays, BNP Paribas Securities, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Société Générale, UBS, and Pictet Asset Management.

“The IOI Charter initiative is a great demonstration of the industry voluntarily working together to raise standards of efficiency, integrity, and robustness of institutional trading in our region,” said Ed Mangles, The FIX Trading Community’s Asia Pacific Regional Director.

“It also helps highlight to all industry participants, including buy side, sell side and regulators, the importance of collaborative initiatives such as the IOI Charter and what can be achieved by the industry, for the industry.”

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