The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has announced that the Foreign Exchange Working Group (FXWG), with members in the world's major financial centres in both advanced and emerging market economies, has started its activities. The remit of group, which was first announced by BIS Governors in May, is to bolster code of conduct standards and principles in foreign exchange markets.

The working group operates with oversight from the Markets Committee, the BIS's forum for monitoring developments in financial markets and assessing their implications for central banks.

Guy Debelle, from the Reserve Bank of Australia, and Chairman of the Markets Committee, will head the FXWG. He said: “A single, global common code of conduct is a necessary goal for the FX industry. The code will be principles-based ‒ rather than rules-based ‒ and will provide guidance on what is, as well as what is not, appropriate behaviour for practitioners in the FX market.”

The group's main objectives are to build upon work done by regional foreign exchange committees to drive development of a single global code for the FX market, while also engaging a broader set of regions in the process.

According to the BIS, progress towards the development of the code will be shared publicly as the work takes place. The target date for finalisation of the code, as well as of the proposals to ensure greater adherence, is May 2017.