ICMA Podcast

In this episode, ICMA Future Leader Sven Renders and MEP Johan Van Overtveldt talk about the importance of completing the CMU, the benefits of the new DLT pilot regime regulation for Europe’s capital markets and the added value of a digital Euro.

ICMA Chief Executive Bryan Pascoe speaks to Gilles Moec, AXA Group Chief Economist, about his central scenarios for growth and inflation in 2022,  contrasting developed and emerging markets, and identifying the risks which could derail them. They also discuss climate transition initiatives as a long term source of inflation and touch on fintech developments including crypto and central bank digital currencies.

ICMA Chief Executive, Bryan Pascoe, sets out the ICMA action plan for 2022, focusing on developments in fintech, regulatory divergence in capital markets, the Capital Markets Union package and the increasingly complex regulatory environment for sustainable finance.

ICMA’s Ruari Ewing, Secretary, ICMA Primary Market Practices Committee, talks about the new model for closing syndicated bond issuances that the ICSDs are scheduled to adopt from 14 March 2022 and ICMA’s related paper suggesting how to consequently modify vanilla Regulation S transaction documentation.

At the end of the post-Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020, the UK left the EU Single Market, passporting rights ceased and the EU and UK markets became two separate markets. In the ICMA Quarterly Report, Paul Richards, Head of Market Practice and Regulatory Policy, considers the risk of capital market fragmentation arising between the EU and the UK and examines the scope for regulatory cooperation in future in a global context.

On 25 November 2021, the European Commission (EC) published its communication on the Capital Markets Union (CMU) package. ICMA’s Julia Rodkiewicz, Secretary, ICMA Regulatory Policy Committee, explains the progress made and voices key concerns.

The market breathed a sigh of relief when the European Commission announced the latest delay to the CSDR mandatory buy-in regime in November 2021. ICMA’s Andy Hill, Secretary, ICMA Secondary Market Practices Committee, provides an update on the extensive work undertaken by ICMA to push for a review of the controversial regime, the expected next steps from ESMA and the Commission, and the future risks associated with any attempt to introduce a regulatory buy-in framework.

Complementing the work on CSDR and the upcoming go-live of cash penalties, ICMA’s European Repo and Collateral Council (ERCC) is looking at other important tools and solutions to support the industry’s efforts to optimise settlement efficiency. Alex Westphal, Secretary to the ERCC, provides a brief update on the latest progress with the initiative as well as the key elements and take-aways from the discussions to date, ahead of the publication of an ERCC white paper on settlement efficiency which is planned for late January.

ICMA's Mushtaq Kapasi, Chief Representative for Asia-Pacific, provides an update on the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission’s new Code of Conduct for bookbuilding and placing, and potential implications for regional and global primary bond markets.

ICMA's Liz Callaghan, Secretary, ICMA Electronic Trading Council, speaks about ICMA's new proposal on a workable, balanced bond transparency regime, which is significantly simpler than today’s complex transparency regime. A regime that provides considerably more bond market transparency than can be found today but at the same time, protects liquidity providers and end investors from undue risk.