The Federation of European Securities Exchanges has elected Christian Katz, chief executive of the SIX Swiss Exchange, as its new president as the region faces new regulation.

The European parliament is scheduled to discuss MiFID II, the amendments to the Markets and Financial Instruments Directive from 2007, in December.

FESE, which represents 41 regulated exchanges in 30 European countries, said in a statement this is the first time that the presidency has been filled by a Swiss national.

At the end of October, FESE members had up to 8,947 companies listed on their markets, of which 8% are foreign companies.The federation said it aims to foster the global competitiveness of European exchanges, especially in times of regulatory change.

Katz said in the statement: “The European capital markets face big challenges. If we, as stock exchange and infrastructure providers, are to strengthen them further in an environment of rapidly increasing regulatory requirements, the structures must be changed carefully and prudently. ”

Before joining SIX Swiss Exchange, Katz was head of Goldman Sachs’s representative office in Switzerland, where he focused on equities and equity derivatives. Prior to this, he spent eight years at JP Morgan Chase in London, where he became head of research marketing for Europe.

In addition to Katz, FESE also elected two vice presidents – Martin Reck, managing director in charge of cash markets at Deutsche Boerse and Mark MacGann, senior vice‐president, head of government affairs and public advocacy at NYSE Euronext.

Reck has held a number of leadership and project management positions with Deutsche Börse since 1998 including head of Xetra market design and functionality.