Message from the Chief Executive
Key ICMA initiatives
by Martin Scheck
Our AGM this year was again a written affair as a result of the impact of the pandemic and took place on 24 June. A warm welcome to two new Board members voted in by our members, Virginia Laird from Citigroup, and Per Åke Nyberg from Swedbank. They replace Fabio Lisanti and Jakob Groot, whom we thank very much for the support they have shown ICMA over many years as engaged and enthusiastic Board members. We are planning for a return to a full-scale AGM and Conference next June in Vienna – let’s hope this will be possible. This time last year we were in the midst of the pandemic and I, for one, was not expecting that a year on we would still largely be working from home – and that almost all meetings would still be virtual. The easings last summer in many countries led to limited reopening of our offices (including our new London office at 110 Cannon Street), but this was sharply reversed by the renewed waves of infections in the autumn, when all ICMA staff reverted to remote working. This is still generally the case except for our Hong Kong office. Coping with the pandemic has involved us all in embracing new technology, requiring us to develop different skills and techniques. ICMA, like many other entities in the financial services industry, adapted early and well. This enabled us to remain efficient and effective during the remote working period. But now that the vaccination programmes are well advanced in each of the countries where our offices are located, and the restrictions are being successively eased, we are hopeful that towards the end of the summer we can again use our offices more normally, with a resumption of social contact and face to face meetings. This Quarterly Report is packed with information on our many initiatives and activities, and I would just like to highlight five of them this quarter. First, we are delighted to have opened a representative office in Brussels and to have recruited a first person to work in that office. Following the end of the post-Brexit transition PAGE 4 | IS S U E 62 | THIRD QUARTER 2021 | ICMAGROUP.ORG
period, it is clear that we need to continue to engage separately and in parallel with the EU and UK authorities, and this new office, augmenting our presence in Paris, will help support the EU work on which we have been engaged for some time already. Second, our activities in Asia led by our Hong Kong office. This last quarter has been one of the most productive ever. A highlight was the response submitted to the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong on the wide-ranging and globally important consultation on primary market processes. This was a complex task involving all of the constituencies involved in our primary market practices – issuers, primary underwriters and investors – and we look forward to continuing to provide advice to the SFC as they consider the various responses and redesign their “code”. But this is just one of the reports led by our Hong Kong colleagues. Others include a comprehensive guide to tough legacy bonds in Asia Pacific together with Bloomberg and a significant Asian component in the excellent report comparing sustainable finance taxonomies globally entitled Overview and Recommendations for Sustainable Finance Taxonomies. In Japan we have had significant interaction with the Japan Financial Services Agency and the Ministries for Economy Trade and Industry, and the Environment, as they created the Basic Guidelines on Climate Transition Finance. This guidance explicitly references our Climate Transition Finance Handbook. We were also pleased to work with Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to host a well-received seminar promoting transition finance and explaining the Japanese guidelines. This is in addition to the usual technical work speaking with the authorities and with our members in China and in many other Asian countries. Aside from the obvious focus on sustainability, much of the work with the authorities is focused on the repo market. Third, the sustainability agenda straddles all our activities. We continue to help nurture growth in the sustainable bond market through our role as Secretariat of the Green and Social Bond Principles, the Sustainability Bond Guidelines
