It has been a month since the ISLA 31st Annual Securities Finance & Collateral Management Conference in Geneva. With 600 attendees, over 40 speakers and three full days of panels, key notes and discussions, a vast array of content spanning the past, present and future of the industry was covered.
Here are our key takeaways from this year’s conference:
Macro Geopolitics in Full Scope
This year’s conference kicked off with a deep dive into the global economic and geopolitical landscape. While day-to-day we might feel far removed from the global political stage, its impact on financial markets and investment strategies has never been so significant.
Our keynote, Sir Robin Niblett outlined one of the most dominant narratives in geopolitics – a new US-China Cold War. While US-China competition spans across culture, technology, military, and economics, both countries are deeply intertwined, with trade between the US and China being the highest it’s ever been.
While the economic inter-dependence between these powers will drive this agenda, its vital that our sector tracks the ever-evolving geopolitical sentiment as the impacts on trade, technology and growth opportunities are far reaching, and those who stay ahead of it have plenty to gain.
Rocky Road to Liquidity
An overarching theme throughout the conference was the search for new liquidity pools, there was unanimous agreement that unlocking this liquidity growth requires collaboration across the industry to create user-friendly access, navigate regulations, and achieve operational efficiency. While the future is uncertain, growth does exist however its vital we remain as agile and flexible as possible to capture it.
A particular focus was on the growing Middle East market, particularly the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where, although several practical and regulatory challenges remain, the growth ambition and openness of the local market means it is still a great opportunity for international players. The need for clarity and an agreed understanding of the regulatory and operating frameworks in the region was clear. Click here to find out about how ISLA is supporting these efforts in the Middle East.
Transparency Beyond Regulation
The ever-increasing need for transparency has changed the way market participants interact and exchange information. Regulation has historically been the driver of greater transparency by laying the foundation and framework for reporting across financial services. This has led to the creation of a vast array of bigger and deeper data sets, which, if effectively utilised, could lead to increased market resilience and operational efficiency.
It became clear during the conference that this drive for transparency has led to a more open and candid dialogue between agent lenders and their institutional clients. This has allowed for greater visibility and a better understanding of the underlying risks and costs involved in securities lending transactions.
Tokenisation is Now, not Tomorrow
Tokenisation in the sector continues to break boundaries and go from strength to strength, with reduced settlement risk, increased transparency, and ultimately more precision on the cards. That demonstrates clearly why so many organisations are working on solutions in the digital asset space, from end to end.
Throughout the conference it was stressed that the need for interoperability and integration especially as we look at a broader range of asset classes however, increasing regulation, barriers to adoption, and funding restraints could stifle this growth and restrict scalability over the coming years. What was clear however was that even against challenging headwinds, we can expect mainstream adoption in the next 5 years.
Stronger, Together
One of the best attended panel discussions was the Industry Associations’ Update: Finding Common Ground, bringing together ISLA, ICMA, ISDA, AIMA and the GPFA for an industry first panel discussion.
From liquidity, regulation, new technology and market resilience, as the industry evolves at a rapid pace, so does the role of industry associations. The need for collective advocacy has never been greater as regulatory matters often cross product and jurisdictional lines.
This sentiment of stronger, together was echoed throughout the whole conference, with many panellists stressing the need for collaboration and cooperation between parties to address the myriad of challenges facing the industry. As the leading securities lending and borrowing association, ISLA recognises its responsibility to expand networks and help forge relationships across the sector.
Lastly, the photo gallery for this year’s conference is openly available on the ISLA website here.
Sejal Amin
