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The world's largest financial exchanges are looking to revamp their global trade group in an effort to sharpen the focus provided by a patchwork of often conflicting lobby groups as an unprecedented wave of regulation courses through the industry.

Officials from NYSE Euronext (NYX), CME Group Inc. (CME), Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (0388.HK) and Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NDAQ) will discuss Monday a planned restructuring of the World Federation of Exchanges, a 51-year-old group better known for its research activities than for lobbying.

The globalization of trading, planned market reforms and the recent collapse of a series of cross-border mergers has galvanized exchanges to seek a more unified voice among policymakers, regulators and academics, though the heavy-lifting of lobbying is expected to be left to more regionally focused groups.

The World Federation of Exchanges, or WFE, currently represents more than 50 exchanges. The Paris-based group hosts industry gatherings and compiles statistics, but some members have seen its stature overshadowed by more powerful advocacy groups like the U.S.-based Futures Industry Association.

Exchange companies often maintain fractious relations with one another as they compete for trading business and deals. The WFE represents a vehicle for views shared across the business, particularly with regard to transparency into markets and the long-range goal of bringing more complex derivatives trade to regulated platforms, which is shared by lawmakers in the U.S. and Europe.

Key members of the body also include the London Stock Exchange Group plc (LSE.LN), CBOE Holdings Inc. (CBOE), TMX Group Inc. (X.T) and Brazil's BM&FBovespa SA (BVMF3.BR).

A revamp would push to elevate the WFE's credibility as an authority on market functions, lending combined expertise to authorities now looking to apply exchange-like structures to complex financial instruments such as credit default swaps, or examine the impact of new methods for trading stocks, such as algorithm-powered electronic strategies.

"The WFE has become much more proactive and visible in [the] last few years and it intends to continue in that direction," said a spokeswoman for the group in an email.

The WFE board was expected to meet Monday in New York and hold a broader discussion with officials from member exchanges, according to persons familiar with the plans.

Lobbying regulators and elected officials hasn't been the group's main focus and members currently aren't looking to steer the WFE in that direction, preferring to collaborate instead with region-specific groups like the Federation of European Securities Exchanges for these purposes.

Eleven years ago the WFE changed its name from the International Federation of Stock Exchanges ahead of a decade that saw many exchanges abandon their member-owned structures in favor of pursuing profits and floating their own shares. Major stock and derivatives exchanges consolidated across North America and Europe while a raft of new and smaller competitors emerged, oftentimes backed by the Wall Street banks that rank among exchanges' biggest customers.

Since the 2008 financial crisis lawmakers have embraced the more-transparent framework employed by exchanges as a model for the trading of complex derivative instruments, which factored into that year's turmoil.

At the same time exchanges' embrace of electronic trading, which has enabled shares and contracts to be bought and sold at a faster clip, has fed into incidents like the May 2010 "flash crash" and raised questions among institutions and individual investors as to the soundness and fairness of financial markets.

-By Jacob Bunge, Dow Jones Newswires; 312 750 4117; jacob.bunge@dowjones.com

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