The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the International Securities Lending Association (ISLA) will partner to hold joint public workshops on the Global Master Repurchase Agreement (GMRA) and the Global Master Securities Lending Agreement (GMSLA).
The two separate master agreements are the essential legal underpinnings for repo and securities lending markets respectively. These two close and increasingly integrated areas of collateral management are frequently handled by the same legal teams within a bank and the workshops covering both will benefit from natural synergies between the products and their documentation.
ISLA decided to develop a formal education framework in 2009 to help support the training and competence requirements of its members and other market participants. Rather than develop training modules in-house, the ISLA board decided to partner with a firm that has a proven track record in delivering quality training programmes and industry workshops. This is the second phase of ISLA's strategy which encompasses three training modules: an introductory course, a course that provides in-depth coverage of the Global Master Securities Lending Agreement, and a computer based module on the SLRC Code of Guidance (an industry best practice code). Having considered a number of potential partners, ISLA chose to work with ICMA on the GMSLA course.
ISLA Chief Executive Kevin McNulty said: "We are delighted to be partnering with ICMA to offer combined GMRA - GMSLA public workshops to our members and the industry. ICMA has been running a series of successful GMRA workshops across Europe, demonstrating clear industry demand for this type of in-depth legal knowledge delivered by market experts and legal professionals."
The new 3-day joint workshops will be delivered at locations around Europe by Richard Comotto (author of the ICMA European Repo Council's long established repo survey, and course director of the ICMA-ERC Repo Course and Senior Visiting Fellow at the ICMA Centre at Reading University), as well as legal and documentation professionals and representatives from ICMA and ISLA. The first is scheduled to run in London in September 2010. In addition to a detailed review of both legal agreements and their application, together with case studies, the operational and basic legal characteristics of the repo and securities lending markets will also be covered.
