ICMA Podcast

Chris Topple, Euronext London CEO, talks to ICMA’s Martin Scheck about changes in European fixed income markets post MiFID II and how Euronext has scaled up its fixed income capabilities through recent acquisitions including Borsa Italiana to meet market structure challenges. They discuss the electronification of fixed income markets, the future of fixed income trading and improving post trade efficiency.

Welcome to the second episode of the Human Side of Finance podcast series, brought to you by ICMA Future Leaders and Humans in Finance. In “Can you find success and happiness in banking?” we gather insights from Stuart Smith, a Performance Consultant specialising in Performance Psychology, as well as Cyrus Ardalan, Chairman of Citigroups international investment banking subsidiary Citi Global Markets Ltd, on a question that receives ever greater focus in the industry. We discuss the stereotypes of working 15 hours a day, what the purpose of a banker really is and how this may be connected to ones happiness, but also why ‘high-achievers’ are shifting away from ‘excellence at any (mental) cost’. 

Andy Hill, Head of Secondary Markets at ICMA, speaks with Christophe Roupie, Head of EMEA and APAC at MarketAxess, about recent and ongoing developments in the Asia international bond markets. Christophe shares his observations and insights on a number of aspects, including the internationalization of local markets, the growing predominance of China, the rapid adoption of e-trading and automation across the region, as well as the potential for further transformation of market structure in the near future.    

Welcome to the first ever episode of the Human Side of Finance podcast series, brought to you by ICMA Future Leaders and Humans in Finance. In this podcast we explore the question “Is the grass greener on the other side?”. Can we truly find fulfilment in the mainstream finance industry or do we need to look elsewhere to achieve this? To help answer this question, we were joined by executive coach Jill Watt and former investment banker turned not for profit sustainable finance advisor Rufus Grantham.

Robert Parker, Chair of ICMA’s Asset Management and Investors Council, reviews the market events of the past weeks, including central bank response to the rise in inflation, economic recovery in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and investor positioning.

Mushtaq Kapasi, Head of ICMA Asia Pacific, speaks to Dr Entela Benz, Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Finance at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School and co-founder and CEO of Intensel, and Dr Saurabh Singh, co-founder and CTO of Intensel about the different and sometimes unexpected aspects of climate risk, how to determine climate risk from underlying data and models, and how this risk can be translated into a “climate spread” on the price of assets.

Stephane Malrait, Head of Market Structure and Innovation for financial markets at ING, talks to ICMA’s Martin Scheck about how finance is catching up with other industries in using data combined with AI to enhance services to clients. He explores how DLT has evolved into a proven technology now being adopted for issuing and trading financial instruments. Stephane also discusses the importance of being aware of what solutions are already out there and openness to new ways of doing business.

Bodo Winkler-Viti, Berlin Hyp’s Head of Funding & Investor Relations speaks to Simone Utermarck at ICMA about Berlin Hyp’s pioneering role in the green bond market to becoming also the first bank in the world to issue a sustainability-linked bond (SLB) including how it fits into their overall strategy, the structuring of the bond and how the bank dealt with potential MREL concerns.

ICMA’s Katie Kelly speaks to Richard Kelly, Partner, Finance & Capital Markets Department at Matheson about Ireland’s debt capital market generally, and the effects of Brexit specifically along with other developments such as the rise of ESG bonds and Ireland’s potential as an incubation hub for digital technology.

Robert Parker, Chair of ICMA’s Asset Management and Investors Council, reviews the market events of the past weeks, including Q1 GDP growth and recovery, stabilisation of the US 10 year treasury yields and geopolitical risks to be considered by investors.