International Capital Market Practice and Regulation

16 Repo advocacy: ICMA continues to be actively engaged on three key EU repo-related advocacy issues: (i) the proposed punitive RWA weightings for short-term SFTs with non-bank counterparties under CRR3; (ii) the ability for EU regulated money market funds to access repo clearing in third country CCPs; and (iii) an unhelpful Q&A by the EBA on the treatment of open reverse repos under LCR.

17 Settlement efficiency: Improving settlement efficiency has been a key concern for ICMA’s ERCC for some time, in particular in the context of the ongoing CSDR discussions. The ERCC ran a second member survey on the topic which concluded in February and is considering next steps.

18 T+1: In this context, ICMA is also following closely the evolving discussion on a possible shortening of the settlement cycle to T+1. ICMA is part of a UK Taskforce on Accelerated Settlement launched by HM Treasury and, on the EU side, has been invited to participate in a crossindustry Taskforce being established on the same topic. ICMA also participated in an ICSA global briefing on T+1 for ICSA members on 23 March.

Sustainable finance

19 ESG Practices in China: in January, ICMA published a White Paper on ESG Practices in China.

20 Call for evidence on greenwashing: on 12 January, ICMA responded to ESA’s call for evidence on greenwashing.

21 FCA’s consultation: on 25 January, ICMA responded to the FCA’s consultation on Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and Investment Labels.

22 Response to ESMA: On 20 February, ICMA responded to ESMA’s Guidelines on Funds’ Names using ESG or Sustainability-related Terms.

23 EU GBS: On 1 March, ICMA published a news statement expressing its support of voluntary nature of EU Green Bond (EuGB) label and of wider sustainable bond disclosures, following provisional agreement on EU Green Bond Standard (EU GBS).

Asset management

24 ICMA AMIC strategy: The strategy of ICMA’s Asset Management and Investors Council (AMIC) Committee has been reviewed in conjunction with its Co-Chairs and its ICMA Board sponsors.

25 AIFM and UCITS: The AMIC Committee is engaging on the AIFM and UCITS Directives’ reviews in the current trilogue discussions.

26 AMIC Committee: The AMIC Committee met in Madrid on 16 March. Tajinder Singh, Deputy Secretary General of IOSCO, joined the meeting as guest speaker and discussant.

FinTech and digitalisation

27 CDM for repo and bonds: ICMA has completed phase 2 of its Common Domain Model (CDM) project for repo and bonds in the first quarter of 2023 as planned. The CDM is now available under the FINOS open-source framework.

28 CDM showcase event: On 21 February 2023, ICMA, ISDA, and ISLA held a joint event to showcase how the CDM has been or is being implemented to assist market participants to automate repo trading and post-trade processing, reduce operational risks and costs, and facilitate reporting, for example, of derivative transactions under CFTC Rewrite.

29 DLT bond roundtables: ICMA held a series of roundtables with issuers, underwriters, market infrastructures, law firms and investors on how to promote scalable, efficient and liquid cross-border DLT bond markets.

30 ICMA Bond Data Taxonomy (BDT): The BDT Working Group has published a “BDT Pack” which provides an agreed language to promote automation and reduce the risk of fragmentation across the issuance process.

Transition from LIBOR to risk-free rates in the bond market

31 LIBOR transition in the bond market: ICMA has continued to Chair the RFR Bond Market Sub-Group, working with the FCA as the global regulator of LIBOR and the Bank of England. The focus has increasingly been on the transition away from US dollar LIBOR to SOFR.