2022
ICMA Events and Education
ICMA Events ICMA made a welcome return in June to a hybrid AGM & Conference in Vienna. After two years of a digital format, our members and delegates returned in numbers comparable with the historical average for attendees. With many regional travel restrictions still in place, the hybrid format attracted almost 900 attendees in person, with 100 delegates joining online from around the world. Mandy DeFilippo, Chair of the Board, ICMA, and Bryan Pascoe, Chief Executive, ICMA, set the tone at the AGM, laying out in their speeches the importance of trade associations in the context of an uncertain and rapidly changing market and socio-economic environment. Both Mandy and Bryan highlighted the notable successes of ICMA over the last 12 months, including successful engagement with regulators in opposing mandatory buy-ins under the Central Securities Depository Regulation (CSDR), the transition from LIBOR to risk-free rates in the bond market, and working closely with the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong to formalise rules & standards around primary market book building and placing. They also drew attention to the expansion of ICMA’s outreach and education activities and the growth in membership to over 600 members in 65 jurisdictions globally. Establishing the scene for the rest of the Conference, Chair and Chief Executive acknowledged the continued focus of the Association on the core areas: primary markets, secondary markets, and repo & collateral, and the rapidly growing cross-cutting themes of sustainable finance and FinTech. Additionally, the importance of diversity and inclusion were emphasised and positioned as a key theme for the ICMA to set the industry standard, as it does in its core areas. The AGM ended with a fitting thank you to Martin Scheck for his exceptional contribution as ICMA Chief Executive over the last 12 years. With that and a lunch break, the Conference opened to a packed audience and the pent-up enthusiasm created by a two-year hiatus. Over the next two days, keynote speeches, fireside chats and panels discussed, explored and debated the challenges and opportunities facing the global capital markets. Many topics were covered, from the pandemic and geopolitical crisis to sustainable finance, blockchain bonds, technology, diversity and inclusion, and of course, regulation. The audience received the insight and atmosphere only a close, in-person community can deliver.
PAGE 76 | IS S U E 66 | THIRD QUARTER 2022 | ICMAGROUP.ORG
Needless to say, after all the hard work, the delegates and speakers required a little culture and light refreshment. The Welcome Reception at Heuriger Wolff, ICMA Women’s Network (IWN) and ICMA Future Leaders (IFL) receptions, and the Gala Reception at the historic Hofburg were thoroughly enjoyed, if not leading to the need for a little “Reparaturseidl”, as they say in Vienna.
