Capital Market Experts Network

The ISEEE Spring Meeting in New York City was attended by forty participants from nineteen countries, fourteen of whom were participating in an ISEEE Meeting for the first time and eleven spouses and six guests accompanied the participants, all of which are records for an ISEEE Meeting.

ISEEE participants at the meeting included participants from the following countries: Austria, Argentina, Canada, Egypt, Germany, Israel, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, Turkey Kazakhstan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Ukraine and Zambia.

The meeting was hosted by David Cowen, President and CEO and John Herzog, Founder, of the Museum of American Finance and held at their facilities on Wall Street.

The meeting began with a Dinner Session featuring a presentation by Randy Williams, Senior Vice President of BATS Global Markets, Inc. who gave an excellent presentation on “BATS Making Markets Better” which demonstrated that the title was correct as BATS which was organized outside of Kansas City, Kansas in 2005, BATS now has only 296 employees and is the largest exchange operator in Europe and is the second largest market in the United States with 20.54% of the market as compared to the NYSE market share of 20.58% and 20.1% for NASDAQ.

The ISEEE Meetings feature Discussion Sessions on the first two mornings in which ISEEE Members and invited Special Guests are seated around a horseshoe arranged table so that all participate freely in the Discussion Sessions. The first morning session was on the topic “Market Developments Worldwide – the Problems and Opportunities and the Actions to be Taken”. The Session began with a ten minute Summary of “Developments in Select Global Markets”. This presentation set the stage for presentations on developments in Egypt, Germany, Turkey, Eastern Europe, Malaysia and North America. On worldwide developments there were presentations on “Green Capitalism and the End of Fear” and on actions being taken in Canada and other markets which included a summary paper on “Re-Defining the Social Utility of Financial Services” as well as a presentation on “EMIR and MiFID in Europe”.

The morning session was followed by a luncheon hosted by the American Insurance Group (AIG) at their headquarter offices and featured a presentation by Thomas J. Scherer, General Counsel and Senior Vice President of AIG Property and Casualty on the “AIG Story and Recovery” which told the remarkable story of a bankrupt AIGs recovery to a highly profitable business operating worldwide.

The Monday evening session was a Dinner at the India House Club, hosted by Eurasian Economic Club of Scientists Association (EECSA) of Astana, Kazakhstan and featured a movie on Kazakhstan presented by Mirat Beksultanova, CEO of Mercurus, SPX Corporation and representative of the EECSA in the United States and Canada. A presentation by Dr. Murat Karimsakov, President of EECSA was delivered by Dinara Karashalova of EECSA.

The Tuesday morning Discussion Session dealt with the topic “The Regulatory Landscape – Recent Regulatory Actions and Proposals Affecting the Exchanges and Capital Market Issues Raised” and featured a presentation of a summary of thirty two page paper on “U.S. Regulation: The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Initiatives and Update on Swaps” which dealt with market surveillance issues, May 6 Market event and other issues, Dodd-Frank Act, Title VII Swaps and an accompanying Appendix with charts.

The Tuesday afternoon session was held in the main exhibit hall of the Museum of American Finance to which Members of the Museum were also invited to attend. The Session featured a panel discussion on the developments in Malaysia and the Asian markets. Three other panel members commented on the developments in North American, European and African and developing markets and took questions from the audience. Following the panel was a reception hosted by the OTC Markets Group which was the sponsor of the panel discussion and reception.

The Wednesday morning session included a discussion of a proposal to create a new Task Force on Small Capital Market Exchange Development which was agreed to with Steven Shelton as the Chairman and David Franasiak as Deputy Chairman with others to be appointed by the ISEEE Chairman including officials associated with the Bermuda and Singapore stock exchanges. It was also suggested, and agreed to, to eliminate the existing two Task Forces. The session also received proposals from the Luxembourg Stock Exchange former CEO Michel Maquil offering to host a meeting in Luxembourg in mid- September and a proposal from the Florida NEXT Foundation to host an ISEEE meeting in Miami, Florida in mid-March 2015. Both invitations were unanimously accepted. The Florida NEXT Foundation is a not for profit entity “committed to establishing a solid base for Florida’s economy in the twenty first century. Through innovative statewide programs and result-oriented community engagement, we create opportunities with entrepreneurs and businesses to drive innovation economy for Florida”.

The session concluded with a review of a draft press release regarding the meeting which was circulated for comment.
The ISEEE Meeting concluded with a Farewell luncheon at the Downtown Association private club hosted by David Cowen and John Herzog who gave presentations on “The Origins of the Museum of American Finance and the International Federation of Finance Museums (IFMM)”. Concluding comments on their experience at their first ISEEE meeting were given by three first time attendees, two from Argentina and one from the Ukraine.

Present at the Farewell Luncheon were the officials from the exchange and regulatory authorities in Zambia, Africa who had travelled to New York City to participate in the first ISEEE Workshop on the topic “Funding Sources for Capital Market Development” which was Co-Chaired by Hannes Takacs of Vienna and Tom Minney of London, both of whom have extensive experience with African and other developing exchanges. Hannes Takacs extraordinary presentation “Funding Sources for Capital Markets and Exchange Development in Emerging Markets” served as the centerpiece of the discussions at the Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning Workshop sessions.

As stated previously, the ISEEE New York City meeting was the best attended and in the views of the attendees, the most interesting of the ISEEE meetings in the past seven years since the ISEEE was created. The papers presented at the meeting, as referred to above, are all now on the ISEEE website, www.capitalmarketexperts.com.

The meeting was the success it was because of the quality of these presentations and the expertise of the ISEEE Members and participating Special Guests.

Among the many comments received from participants about the New York meeting are the following, which seem to represent the views of all participants:

“The debates have been very high- level and very stimulating managing a great mix of debating latest developments in the U.S. markets and following issues of wider relevance.”

and a brief comment from another participant which sums up the New York meeting: “Another great ‘off the chart’ ISEEE conference”.

Respectfully Submitted,

Don Calvin, ISEEE Chairman and Founder