ICMA Podcast

Nick Pfaff, Head of Sustainable Finance at ICMA speaks to Margaret Kuhlow, Head of Global Finance Practice at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)  and Elise Calais, Head of Division, Enterprise, the French Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition about the role of the sustainable bond markets in promoting biodiversity and examples of related projects being financed by green bonds. They also discuss the recent guidance from the Green Bond Principles on impact reporting for biodiversity projects, as well as the role and importance of ESG disclosures.

Daniel Weiss, Deputy Group Treasurer at Novartis, discusses the recent Novartis Sustainability-Linked Bond (SLB), which was the first SLB with two separate KPIs, one of which was a social KPI. In this podcast, Daniel discusses the rationale behind the structure, the ease of getting to market and investor perception of this innovative structure.
 

Robert Parker, Chair of ICMA's Asset Management and Investors Council, reviews the market events of the last two weeks, in light of COVID-19 outbreaks, recent economic indicators and central banks' upcoming meetings.

Nor Masliza Sulaiman, Senior Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets at CIMB Investment Bank, speaks to ICMA about the fast-growing bond and sukuk markets – both domestic and cross-border – in the southeast Asia region. Ms Sulaiman shares her perspectives on recent issuance and credit trends, product innovation in sustainable and Islamic finance, and opportunities for global investors.

Dr Lee Braine, Director of Research and Engineering in the Chief Technology Office, Barclays talks to ICMA Chief Executive, Martin Scheck about the Common Domain Model, how it digitises life cycle events to address the problems of inconsistent processes and data and its application to derivatives, bonds and repo. They also discuss the challenges for its adoption in capital markets and the role of the Barclays DerivHack Hackathon.

Nicholas Hamilton, Executive Director at JP Morgan talks to ICMA’s Alex Westphal about the important work of the ICMA European Repo and Collateral Council (ERCC) Operations Group, which Nicholas is co-chairing. The podcast touches on some of the key themes that the group is focusing on, particularly related to market infrastructure, and explains the ERCC’s close involvement in the relevant market contact groups set up by the European Central Bank. 

Robert Parker, Chair of ICMA's Asset Management and Investors Council, reviews the market events of the last two weeks, in light of the progress made with COVID-19 vaccines, the US presidential election results and Brexit.

Rehan Ahmed, Head of Fixed Income (FI) Products & Digital Assets at Singapore Exchange (SGX) speaks to ICMA on SGX’s innovations in the digital bond issuance space and the structural shifts in the industry. Rehan discusses SGX’s recent pilot issuance for Olam International and share his views on future trends for the digitalisation of financial assets and its long term impact on FI securities markets.

SGX’s recently published white paper on digital fixed income assets can be downloaded here.

Robert Parker, Chair of ICMA's Asset Management and Investors Council, reviews the market events of the last two weeks, in light of Ant Group's IPO suspension, the US presidential election and the Fed's next meeting.

The ICMA Women's Network hosted a virtual conversation between Allegra Berman, Global Head of Institutional Sales & Global Co-Head of Securities Services, Markets & Securities Services, HSBC and Wura Olatunbosun, Associate, Dentons.
 
With many of us working remotely during these challenging conditions, it is harder than ever to share knowledge and expertise. But inter-generational connectivity remains extremely important as it can help mould positive attitudes and inspire the upcoming generation in the next steps of their careers, and can introduce fresh perspectives and different working cultures.

Allegra and Wura listened and learned from each other, exploring how the challenges facing women in finance have changed over time, citing shifts in culture and expectations, the importance of adaptability and resilience, and what the future may hold as the different generations weather the storm together and prepare for what’s next.