Head of Regulatory Affairs at the World Federation of Exchanges

Published in Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy Volume I, September 2025.

Equity markets have weathered no shortage of turbulence in recent years, yet the volatility seen at the surface is too often mistaken for instability at the foundations. In his contribution to Volume I of the Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy (JFSA), Richard Metcalfe, Head of Regulatory Affairs at the World Federation of Exchanges, makes the case that capital markets deserve more credit than they currently receive from the regulatory community, and a sharper distinction between price movement and systemic risk.

Drawing on his long-standing work representing global stock and derivatives exchanges and central counterparties, Metcalfe contrasts the architecture of capital markets with that of banking, where leverage, maturity transformation, and interconnected balance sheets create the kind of contagion risk that has historically justified intensive prudential intervention. Equity markets, he argues, operate on fundamentally different principles, and the regulatory frameworks applied to them should reflect that difference rather than borrow reflexively from a banking-led template.

The piece sets out a constructive agenda for reform. Metcalfe calls for more proportionate regulation that recognises the distinct role of market infrastructure in supporting stability and channelling capital, alongside revisions to accounting rules that he argues have inadvertently constrained the appeal of public listings. He places particular emphasis on improving access to public markets for growth-focused companies, a theme increasingly central to the EU's wider Capital Markets Union ambitions.

Read the full article here.

This summary is the latest in a weekly series curated by Business News Malta, showcasing articles from the Journal of Financial Supervisors Academy (JFSA) Volume I, published September 2025.