ICMA Podcast

Nicholas Pfaff, Head of Sustainable Finance, ICMA speaks to Jean Marie-Masse, Chief Investment Officer,  International Finance Corporation (IFC) about their Green Bond Technical Assistance Programme (GP-TAP) which helps the development of the green bond market in emerging countries. The GBP-TAP, spanning a period of seven years, is financed by the governments of Switzerland, Sweden and Luxembourg and focuses on six areas, namely training, communication, creating a database to increase supply of data on green and other ESG issuance, sponsoring research and case studies, advising governments on policies to encourage green bond issuance and lastly, assisting banks who wish to issue green bonds.

ICMA’s Chief Executive, Martin Scheck speaks with Jose Carlos Doherty, CEO, ANBIMA, about the role of the Brazilian Financial and Capital Markets Association and the challenges they have faced in the past year. Their discussion covers the changing role of foreign investors, the evolution of the sustainability agenda, and increasing importance of diversity in the work of ANBIMA and the wider Brazilian capital market. Read more about ANBIMA here.

ICMA’s Ricco Zhang speaks with Christine Zhang of China Chengxin International Credit Rating about the evolving market for Panda bonds, which refers to bonds issued in the Chinese bond market by foreign institutions duly registered outside China. Their discussion provides an overview of the market, reviews the implications of NAFMII’s new rules on tiered management, and outlines challenges and opportunities in 2021. Further resources include CCXI’s report - Panda Bonds in 5 Years: Finding its Way out.

In this briefing, ICMA provides an overview of the global transition from LIBOR to risk-free rates, particularly in the bond market. Paul Richards, Katie Kelly, Charlotte Bellamy and Mushtaq Kapasi discuss the adoption of risk-free rates and the active transition of legacy LIBOR bonds, legislation on tough legacy contracts and the transition to risk-free rates in Asia-Pacific.

Robert Parker, Chair of ICMA's Asset Management and Investors Council, reviews the market events of the past weeks, including the highly profiled equity market bubble, along with its wider market implications and possible action from supervisors, the outcome of the ECB and the Fed January meetings, as well as the IMF and World Bank 2021 global growth forecasts.

Byron Cooper-Fogarty, Interim CEO, Neptune Networks Ltd speaks to ICMA’s Liz Callaghan about the problems Neptune is solving for the bond market, how electronic bond trading is evolving and whether regulation is helping or hindering technology innovation.  

Andy Hill, ICMA’s Senior Director and head of secondary markets speaks with Mushtaq Kapasi, ICMA’s Chief Representative for Asia-Pacific, about China’s corporate bond market and ICMA’s new report on the trends, opportunities, and challenges related to the internationalization of the China corporate bond market.

Philippe Waechter, Chief Economist of Ostrum Asset Management, shares his outlook for the economy in 2021 in the context of the persistent COVID-19 health crisis and highlights key factors to consider for European economies post-pandemic including the need to trigger autonomous growth as the economic impulse coming from traditional partners (China and USA) will diminish in the foreseeable future.

ICMA speaks with Sam Direen, Treasurer of Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities, the public housing agency of New Zealand. The discussion covers Kāinga Ora’s experience issuing Wellbeing Bonds aligned with the Green and Social Bond Principles, how these bonds fit in to their broader sustainability strategy, the importance and challenges of impact reporting, and potential lessons for the global sustainable finance market.

George Buckley, Chief UK and Euro Area Economist at Nomura gives his views on the Euro area politics and the economic outlook, also covering the effects of Brexit on the UK economy, prospects for the housing market and the likelihood of the Bank of England going negative on official interest rates in 2021.