In welcoming attendees to the ISLA 30th Annual Securities Finance & Collateral Management Conference, ISLA’s chief executive Andrew Dyson reflected in his opening remarks on how the securities lending marketplace has evolved from 30 years ago, when “the world was a different place”.
Many of the association’s activities at that time, including the organisation and management of the ISLA annual conference, was conducted through the goodwill and volunteering activities of board members.
While it achieved much through this, it became clear to the team that they needed to rethink how the conference was organised.
While the industry has changed substantially over this 30-year period, some of the core principles on which the industry is founded remain consistent from year to year.
Reflecting on the Association’s 2012 conference, which was held in Madrid, there are a number of subject areas in common at this year’s meeting that were discussed 11 years ago, including discussions on tax, trading, hedge funds, regulation and emerging markets. In addition, there were breakout sessions on short selling, shadow banking and discussions on the world of repo.
Looking more closely at how the conference focus has evolved, the 2012 agenda provided only limited discussion on collateral, the sustainability agenda was nonexistent and it lacked a dedicated discussion on technology. These subject areas are all fundamental to the conference dialogue scheduled for here in Lisbon.
Developing this point, technology was often in the background 10 years ago, Dyson recalls, whereas today, it is at the forefront of everything that the securities finance market does.
In his opening comments, Dyson also reflected on how female representation at the ISLA conference has advanced from earlier meetings. In 2012, there was a lack of female representation, with only three women appearing as speakers out of a total of 39. In this week’s conference, attendees will hear from more than 20 female speakers.
When the ISLA conference moved to Prague the following year, the agenda highlighted the central importance of Basel III and capital considerations in defining how the industry does its securities financing business, with efficient balance sheet management key to shaping sell-side trading strategies. The 2013 conference also introduced the first technology-focused panel.
Technology development and innovation has now become a cornerstone of every ISLA annual conference, with innovation commonly driven by the central question of how firms can move liquidity most efficiently from one firm to another, typically on a collateralised basis. More broadly, ISLA has reflected consistently on how it can encourage collaboration and innovation across the market as one of its fundamental roles as a trade association.
