An inside view of the global exchange network

The Luxembourg Stock Exchange dedicated the 2026 edition of its flagship event, the Stock Exchange Day, to highlighting the role of exchanges in the global economy and exploring the impact of technology and the power of transparency and trust in financial markets.

For the first time in 47 years, the board meeting of the World Federation of Exchanges was organised in Luxembourg and hosted by the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE). CEOs and senior leaders of exchanges from across the globe gathered in the Grand-Duchy for the meeting, giving LuxSE a rare opportunity to bring them on stage at its annual event to share industry insights and their views on the challenges and opportunities ahead for capital markets.

True to tradition, Luxembourg Minister of Finance HE Gilles Roth delivered the opening remarks. Minister Roth highlighted the international scope of Luxembourg’s financial centre, its history of innovations and underlined Luxembourg’s collaborative approach built on humility, confidence and determination.

Following Minister Roth’s speech, President of LuxSE’s Board of Directors Alain Kinsch delivered the welcome speech, in which he set the stage for the overall theme of the conference by sharing the story of exchanges and their role in the world economy today. He also highlighted how trust, transparency and innovation – the tagline of the conference – are the values that define and guide exchanges everywhere.

Following Minister Roth’s speech, President of LuxSE’s Board of Directors Alain Kinsch delivered the welcome speech, in which he set the stage for the overall theme of the conference by sharing the story of exchanges and their role in the world economy today. He also highlighted how trust, transparency and innovation – the tagline of the conference – are the values that define and guide exchanges everywhere.

Next on the programme was the keynote speech delivered by Arunma Oteh, currently Executive in Residence at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. She previously held the roles of Treasurer of the World Bank and Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission in Nigeria. Arunma Oteh delivered an exceptionally powerful speech about the responsibility that capital markets carry when it comes to addressing the challenges currently facing the world. She referred to what she defined as an epidemic of lack of leadership spreading in today’s world and called for collective action across capital markets to make finance a driver of social and economic progress.

After the keynote speech, it was time for the panel discussions which zoomed in on exchanges even further. The first panel was entitled “Engines of progress” and looked at how exchanges accelerate economic and societal development across the world. Moderated by Julie Becker, CEO of LuxSE, the panel gathered Thomas Book, Member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse. Valdene Reddy, Group CEO of Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Bjørn Sibbern, CEO of SIX Group and Kendal Vroman, Chief Transformation Officer of CME Group on stage. These exchange leaders discussed the way in which exchanges contribute to the real economy, how to ignite IPOs, and examined what traditional exchanges need to do to reach the new generation of retail investors and make regulated markets more attractive.

The second panel was given the title “Navigating disruption” and explored the challenges and opportunities of new technologies for traditional exchanges. Moderated by Ananda Kautz, Member of the Management Board of Luxembourg’s Banking Association (ABBL), the panel was composed of Edward Knight, Executive Vice Chairman of Nasdaq, John McKenzie, CEO of TMX Group and Chair of WFE, Ala Presenti, Co-founder of Moniflo CFO of Investre as well as Matthias Voelkel, CEO of Börse Stuttgart Group. The panel examined the rise of crypto assets, tokenised securities and other disruptive technologies. It also discussed who will lead the next generation of financial markets and what investor protection looks like in a digital, always-on market.

Lisa Burke acted as Master of Ceremonies and guided the audience through the evening’s programme, which provided a rare glimpse into the vision, mandate and inner workings of the global exchange network.