FIA Europe

FIA Europe
Founded	1993
Headquarters	London
Products	Advocacy association for futures (and options) industry, reports, publications, conferences
Key People	Simon Puleston Jones
Web site	http://www.foa.co.uk

FIA Europe, previously known as the Futures and Options Association (FOA), was merged along with FIA and FIA Asia into a single organization known simply as "FIA" on January 8, 2016. The newly merged organization serves both the global and regional needs of the futures, options and cleared swaps industries.

FOA was rebranded as FIA Europe in March of 2014 as part of its affiliation with the FIA.

History

The London-based FOA was formed in 1993 following an initiative by the Bank of England and a number of futures industry participants to consolidate the fragmented landscape of trade associations.

A formation committee started work in October 1993 with 100 founder members under the chairmanship of Sir Brian Williamson, a former chairman of Liffe, appointing Michael Jenkins as chairman. The new organization aimed to combine the membership and aims of organizations including the Commodities Traders Group, the London Markets Action Group, the UK Managed Futures Association, the Clearing & Settlement Association and the Joint Exchanges Committee.

The FOA initiated the establishment of MiFID Connect, the EU/US Coalition on Financial Regulation and the Associate Parliamentary Group on Wholesale Financial Markets & Services and was a founder member of the European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum.

The globalization of the derivatives business saw the FOA establish closer ties with the Futures Industry Association (FIA), formalized in September 2007, with an agreement to form joint committees and reciprocal access to board meetings.

In March of 2011, the FOA and the FIA set up a task force to examine the possibility of closer co-operation, including a possible merger of the two associations.

Membership

The main role of FOA was to represent the interests of its members in the public and regulatory domain and deliver a wide range of support services to the membership. The organization:

• Served as a constructive liaison with regulators, government and other political and trade bodies nationally, throughout Europe and on an international level. (In Brussels, the FOA was a founding member of the European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum, and is an active member of the EPFSF Advisory Committee. In the UK, the FOA initiated the establishment of an Associate Parliamentary Group on Wholesale Financial Markets and Services, which was registered at Westminster in December 2002);
• Helped raise public awareness and understanding of the futures and options industry and;
• Produced standardized industry documentation, publications and guidelines.

In mid-2008, the FOA recruited consultancy Oxera to probe plans by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and Liffe to establish clearinghouses in Europe as part of a larger investigation into the exchange clearing business in the region.