Agenda

On 10 June, the EC’s High-Level Forum (HLF) on the future of the Capital Markets Union published its final report. In that report, it described how ‘Europe has for decades struggled to make its capital markets work as one, and to a large degree still has 27 capital markets, some fairly large, and quite a number rather small. With the UK having left a question for politicians is how much of this market one wants onshore, and how much offshore.’

Set against this backdrop, this panel will debate the key challenges that Europe faces when thinking about the development of a fully fledged market-based economic model, and how that thinking may be changing now that it is increasingly clear that the UK is likely to pursue a strategy of regulatory divergence in the medium term.

The first half of 2020 showed just how connected the capital markets truly are.
What effects were transmitted through the web of agents lenders, market makers, exchanges, MMFs? What were the connections between repo, SBL, TRS, HQLA, and even ETF liquidity.

What was expected, unexpected, and counter-intuitive? What have been the outside amplifiers or influences on the ecosystem, and how have the actions of governments and central banks changed outcomes?

By the end of March, the boards of many firms had suspended dividends and buybacks on ordinary shares until the end of 2020. Outstanding 2019 dividend payments have also been cancelled. What has this meant for investors and with markets recovering many of their losses in recent weeks what is likely to happen if Covid-19 returns later this year into 2021?

ISLA have highlighted common data representations as a priority whilst firms continue to grapple with SFTR.

We may be entering a difficult period for profitability. Will the industry have the resources to continue the drive towards a digitalised future, or are the potential efficiencies more of a necessity than ever? What are the latest developments for documentation? What are the next steps in post-trade efficiency?

As Europe begins to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no doubt that that the sustainable finance agenda will play an integral part in that recovery process. As retail investors increasingly demand other outcomes from their investments than simply profit, this session will debate where Europe is on this journey.

To open, there will be two brief presentations on the broader regulatory and policy aims and objectives of the European Commission, amongst others, followed by an update from the ISLA Council for Sustainable Finance (ICSF), that was launched at the start of 2020. This will be followed directly by a panel of industry protagonists, who will consider how our markets have to respond to these changing sentiments, and the crucial role that securities lending can play in developing these new investment norms..

Set against a backdrop of recent volatility, short-selling bans and changing trading strategies, what might the demand landscape look like for the rest of the year, and into 2021? What will this mean for prime brokers, agent lenders and ultimately beneficial owners?

To conclude the webinar series, and in conversation with Roy Zimmerhansl, Andrew Dyson will discuss the key highlights and talking points of the webinar series, and how ISLA’s own priorities relate to the broad array of topics covered over the preceding ten days. A number of common threads or themes run across the sessions, which in many ways encapsulate the challenges facing the industry today. During this fireside chat, the two will attempt to bring these various strands together, and provide some context for the remainder of 2020 into 2021.