ISLA Madrid 2025 Day 1 Write-up
We are officially underway at the ISLA 32nd Securities Lending & Collateral Management Conference in Madrid with over 650 delegates joining us for three days of in-depth discussions and unparalleled networking opportunities.
This morning saw a GPFA closed-door beneficial owner briefing, co-hosted by Matthew Brunette (Norges Bank Investment Management) and Tommaso Sechi, CFA (GIC), providing a dedicated forum for the group to connect, this was followed by an invite-only ISLA Connects Networking lunch for first time delegates to get to know each other and the wider ISLA team.
Our CEO, Andrew Dyson, kicked off the main event by thanking our generous sponsors and introducing our conference co-chairs, Adnan Hussain (HSBC) and Geraldine Trippner (Societe Generale), who will be guiding us through the week. Andrew outlined key highlights from the first 6 months, including our advocacy efforts across Europe namely on the SIU, Basel and T+1. With ISLA last in Madrid in 2019, Andrew reflected on how much our industry has changed in that time. To address this change, the Association must change with it and Andrew outlined key priorities going forward including the development of a unified single pricing model across ISLA and ISLA Americas.
Trump’s trade wars, Geopolitics, AI and Tokenisation took centre stage in “From the Parliament to the Purse“ with Marion Laboure, Ph.D. of Deutsche Bank providing delegates with a glimpse key risks and themes shaping the macro-outlook for years to come. While growth may be stunted, the long-term outlook remains net positive, albeit potentially on a ‘knife-edge’.
Ambitious, long-term and positive – three terms which were echoed throughout the next session – “Primed for Growth: Exploring the Competitiveness of the Spanish Capital Markets”. This fireside chat offered a deep dive into recent developments in Spanish capital markets, with the expectation that lending from CISs will gain approval in the very near future. A huge moment in the future of the Spanish capital markets as it looks to compete not only in Europe but also Globally.
Echoing Andrew Dyson’s opening remarks, the theme of global versus regional dynamics, and the intrinsic connection between the two, has resonated throughout the day. On the global scale we have seen the impact of geopolitics and the growth of emerging markets through to the local impacts of the migration to T+1 and the local interpretation of prudential regulation.
We kicked off the afternoon with the “ISLA Global Advocacy, Regulatory & Legal Highlights” session, moderated by ISLA’s own Alistair Griffiths. The team offered a detailed overview of ISLA’s broad and growing global advocacy efforts, including legal work on netting legislation across diverse jurisdictions, as well as new annexes for Saudi Arabia amongst others. The discussion also covered key trends in new and emerging markets, evolving market infrastructure (including the implications of T+1 and CSDR), global regulatory updates, and the burgeoning digital landscape with tokenisation and digital assets.
Delegates then had the opportunity to choose between two highly relevant thematic discussions. “Accessing Retail Liquidity,” moderated by Sarah Nicholson (Consolo), explored the growing interest in retail investors as a new source of securities lending supply. The panel discussed various models for engaging with asset aggregators through utilising current market infrastructure as well as new and emerging technologies. While challenges around KYC and scaling operations are still remain, the group agreed that education of retail investors was fundamental priority and with over 51% of traded equities expected to be driven by retail investors by 2030, the time is now!
The next session looked at the “T+1: A View from the Trading Desk,” moderated by ISLA’s Tony Holland and Roy Zimmerhansl (WTS Hansuke). The panel offered a crucial look at the practical impacts of T+1 implementation. The session drew lessons from the U.S. transition, highlighted differences in European market structure, and provided real-world perspectives on funding cycles, recall management, and risk adjustments. While two years might sound like a long time, the amount of change will be of real challenge unless the industry collaborates and there isn’t any time to waste.
Read the Securities Finance Times coverage of the day in their ISLA Daily here.
The ISLA Madrid Conference Gallery is also accessible here.
