Godfried De Vidts has added yet another task to his bulging portfolio of jobs. The chairman of the European Repo Council, who day job includes running the money markets and financing desks at Fortis Bank in Brussels as Global Funding Co-ordinator, was today elected today as the new President of ACI – The Financial Markets Association. His elevation took place at the ACI Council’s half-yearly meeting held alongside the 7th European ACI Congress in London. De Vidts succeeds Heering Ligthart, who steps down after six years in the post.
De Vidts was already President of ACI Belgium, in addition to his role as Chairman of the European Repo Council. He is also a member of ACI’s Committee for Professionalism, Secretary of Euribor ACI and a member of the Euribor ACI Money Market & Liquidity Workgroup, and sits on the International Securities Markets Association’s Market Practices Committee. He is also involved in a number of other industry related working initiatives, including the Giovannini group, the LCH.Clearnet Fixed Income Product advisory Group, the Bank of England’s SLRC and the ECB Cogesi group.
“It is a great honour to succeed Heering Ligthart as President of ACI -The Financial Markets Association,” says de Vidts. “The progress made in the last six years on many issues including the promotion of professional standards in the market via The Model Code of ACI and the development of a benchmark for skills standards in the industry in conjunction with ACI’s suite of professional examinations will be continued and intensified. I look forward to working with all of ACI’s national associations, membership and staff to increase the awareness and visibility of ACI. Members of ACI owe a huge debt of thanks to Heering and I look forward to his support during the initial succession period and beyond following his appointment as a newly elected Honorary President of ACI.”
Godfried De Vidts began his career in Brussels as control officer between front and back-office operations, a function that is now called middle-office. He worked in Bahrain from 1977 until 1987. Although far away from the major banking centers of the world, he was active in all products related to the short end of the market at the time. He returned to Brussels to join Generale Bank, where he was active in a number of different product areas over the years. Since 1995 De Vidts has been in charge of developing the repo desk. On the creation of Fortis Bank in 1999, his function changed to product manager for the short end of the market. Currently he is in charge of the co-ordination of the global liquidity and collateral management functions of Fortis Bank.
With over 14,000 members worldwide ACI -The Financial Markets Association claims to be the world’s largest financial markets’ trade association. ACI has 68 affiliated national associations committed to promoting and enhancing the interests of local financial market participants.