We are delighted to invite all of our qualifying beneficial owner delegates to an exclusive morning session, co-hosted by industry leaders Matt Brunette, Global Head of Financing, NBIM and Tommaso Sechi, Head of Securities Finance, GIC.

What should attendees expect:

• A dedicated session to address the specific challenges and opportunities facing beneficial owners in today’s market
• An opportunity to meet with peers and discuss key topics in a closed-door setting
• An in-depth focus on key trends impacting beneficial owners such as the evolution of synthetic trading structures as well as other considerations impacting securities lending supply and demand

If you would be interested in attending, please make sure you register for the main conference below and then RSVP for the closed-door session via events@islaemea.org. A reminder that qualifying Beneficial Owners can attend the conference for FREE!

ISLA CEO, Andrew Dyson will outline the strategic priorities and collaborations for the Association in 2025, including the continued expansion of activities across ISLA Americas, the increased focus on developing and emerging securities lending markets, such as Spain, the Middle East and Africa, and the ever-evolving global regulatory agenda that promises to offer further twists and turns whilst influencing the evolution of our markets.

Following a year of market-influencing global elections (including ‘Trump 2.0’), recent events have truly epitomised the phrase ‘expect the unexpected’. This session will examine the ever-close interplay between macroeconomics and geo-politics, and the factors that may shape the remainder of the year.

As host nation of this year’s conference, this session will explore the current and future aspirations for the Spanish securities lending market, and how recent changes in economic policy coupled with regulatory developments may finally boost the competitiveness of the domestic capital market within the regional and global landscape.

An overview of the in-flight and imminent regulatory hurdles and milestones impacting market participants after a year of global electoral change, a focus on competitiveness, and a shift in legislative priorities. This session will explore ISLA’s proactive advocacy efforts across a range of policy areas from, digital, to tax, with a spotlight on prudential policy to champion the industry’s crucial role in empowering capital markets. Amongst other things, this session will also cover legal initiatives that the Association is prioritising for 2025, including any further updates to the GMSLA documentation suite as well as new netting jurisdictions.

Delegates will be invited to take a short comfort break and grab a quick refreshment before returning to the main conference room for the thematic discussions.

This year, ISLA will hold two interactive thematic discussions back-to-back, giving delegates the opportunity to attend both sessions. The discussions are designed to encourage a healthy debate and exchange of views between speakers and participants for a deeper dive into two of the key themes expected to shape our market over the coming years.

Pre-registration is required so we can assemble smaller groups for this part of the agenda.

While retail lending is not new, recent ‘tech-first’ entrants have injected new impetus into the space, with retail investors accessing securities lending via a range of platforms, aggregators, and neo-broker-type institutions. In this thematic session, and ahead of the panel on the 18th entitled, A New Playbook: The Future of Securities Financing, that will cover this supply-source given the shift in momentum and recognition, we will do a deep dive into the landscape. Amongst other things, we will explore the stakeholders that are involved, the various models that exist today, as well as some of the opportunities, benefits and best practice considerations to accessing this source of liquidity.

With the go-live date edging closer for the EU and UK transition to T+1, this thematic session will draw on learnings from the US transition and explore the practicalities of implementing T+1 across these more nuanced and fragmented markets. With one eye on profitability, and the other on balancing different counterparties, synchronising across time zones, and managing geographically diverse teams, we will consider all the facets of migrating to T+1 and how these may impact trading behaviours. How might traders navigate global relationships, local commitments, and internal hurdles to preserve P&L, whilst remaining competitive pre- and post- migration.

To close day one of this year’s conference, we invite registered conference delegates to attend an evening networking reception at the Hotel Puerta America. This is an ideal opportunity to engage with industry peers!