On the 15 May, the managing boards of ISLA and the European Repo and Collateral Council (ERCC) met in an open session to exchange ideas and discuss areas for potential cooperation across the securities lending and repo markets. Regulatory imperatives such as the SFTR make it essential that firms think across fixed income and equity markets to ensure a consistent approach around key issues such as data and technology.
The meeting was wide ranging with a number of consistent themes.
The reporting requirements of Article 4 of the SFTR are presenting similar challenges across securities lending and repo markets. These include the sourcing and enrichment of security level market data and the production and communication of Unique Trade Identifiers (UTI). Both groups agreed to share knowledge and work in this area and where necessary work on joint best practice or further representation to regulators and policy makers.
The meeting then considered the work that ISLA has led on regarding the development of a pledge collateral version of the Global Securities Market Agreement (GMSLA). The meeting noted how the repo market may be able to learn from our experiences as part of their development work on similar documentation.
Finally, the meeting took a moment to consider Brexit. Although there is still much more to come from the political discussions before we can move ahead in a particular direction, the meeting agreed to share feedback from members and other stakeholders in further joint meetings.
