ICMA Podcast

Robert Parker, Chair of ICMA’s Asset Management and Investors Council, reviews the market events of the past weeks, including Q1 GDP growth and recovery, stabilisation of the US 10 year treasury yields and geopolitical risks to be considered by investors.

ICMA’s Mushtaq Kapasi speaks to Sir Danny Alexander, Vice President and Corporate Secretary of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank about the AIIB's mission and strategy to develop sustainable infrastructure in Asia. Sir Danny discusses in particular the AIIB’s Climate Change Investment Framework and COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility, along with other innovations in the sustainable capital markets.

ICMA’s Chief Executive Martin Scheck speaks to Greg Medcraft, Director, Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) about its mission and achievements to improve policies and livelihood across nations over the past six decades, its role in the international capital markets, and its global agenda including in the area of sustainability as well as the institution’s efforts in supporting digital transformation.

Nicole Della Vedova, Head of Corporate Finance and Giovanni Niero, Sustainable Finance Project Leader at Enel speak to Simone Utermarck about Enel’s journey from a green bond issuer to pioneer of sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs), how the release of the Sustainability-linked Bond Principles propelled the growth of SLBs and what to consider when structuring an SLB.

Rebekah Bray, Vice-Chair of ICMA Future Leaders speaks to Martina Macpherson, President of the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets (NSFM) and Head of ESG Strategy, ODDO BHF AM about NSFM, its focus to support and enable the next generation of sustainable finance experts, capital market professionals and academics and its aim to work on initiatives that are in alignment with the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Free educational resources 

• SDG Academy [https://sdgacademy.org/]

• EDX Online Learning [https://www.edx.org/]

• Corporate Finance Institute [https://courses.corporatefinanceinstitute.com/courses/environmental-social-governance]

• ADBI Sustainable Finance course [https://www.adb.org/adbi/news/new-adbi-elearning-governing-sustainable-finance]

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the European Repo Market Survey, ICMA’s Alex Westphal speaks to Richard Comotto, author of the Survey, to discuss the evolution of the survey, long-term trends in the European repo market, as well as the results of the current survey and the outlook for the repo market post Brexit transition.

ICMA’s Liz Callaghan talks to Ricky Goddard, Head of trading at Schroders, about current bond pricing and axe distribution practices in the EU bond markets and the challenges that the market faces today. They discuss the importance of standardising axe information, which is the term commonly used to advertise buy or sell bond interests, the role of electronic & technology solutions in its distribution and the obstacles in achieving good quality and accurate bond pricing/axe data.

ICMA’s Mushtaq Kapasi speaks with David Jenkins, Global Head of Sustainable Finance at National Australia Bank, about the Australian and New Zealand sustainable bond market. They delve into how investors are viewing recent product innovations and whether they are willing to pay a premium for sustainability. They also explore opportunities for further growth of the market, and the steps needed to make these possible.

The underwriting function guarantees that the borrower will receive its funds from a particular offering in the international capital markets, but does real underwriting risk still exist in today’s cross-border bond markets and is the underwriting function still relevant? Bond market veteran Chris O’Malley examines the role of underwriting and underwriting risk over 60 years in the cross-border bond markets.

Robert Parker, Chair of ICMA's Asset Management and Investors Council, reviews the market events of the past weeks, including the sharp increase of the 10-year US treasury yield, inflation expectations and the portfolio rotation this has triggered among investors.