The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and the London Investment Banking Association (LIBA) announced that they are merging their London-based operations into a single, independent European organization.
Jonathan Taylor, LIBAs director general will lead the joint groups. It is expected to be a unified, influential voice in issues affecting the international, European, and U.K. capital markets. The new body will also coordinate closely with SIFMAs Asian and U.S. operationson global market and regulatory issues.
The LIBA and SIFMA-Europe have been closely working together over recent years. The merger, the groups said, was the next logical step toward a fully-integrated, efficient and cost-effective European operation. Members interests will be better represented in interaction with national and regional European policy makers, drawing more systematically on SIFMA-Europes industry-wide market and product knowledge.
Interaction with global policy makers will be more timely and coordinated in the face of increased global initiatives from regulators and policy makers.
The LIBA will retain all of its existing services while possessing a greater capacity to improve U.K.-focused member services. The new European entity will be linked with a new body, the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA), which will address global strategy. Tim Ryan,, the curent CEO of SIFMA-U.S., will be the CEO of the GFMA.
