Last month I had the pleasure of moderating the Central Counterparty panel session at the RMA Annual Securities Lending Conference in the US. The feedback on the conference has been excellent and I was really pleased specifically with the CCP panellists' presentations, comments and discussion points. In my view as a moderator this year's conference success was due in very large part to the efforts of the co-chairmen James Slater of CIBC Mellon and Jim Martin of Citibank. They were invaluable to me in preparing for the panel and recruiting panellists. I asked Mr Slater for a copy of his introductory remarks as I felt they really captured the spirit of the event. I have included an extract below for your reading pleasure.
RMA CONFERENCE ON SECURITIES LENDING – OCTOBER 2009
Welcome to the 26th annual RMA conference on Securities Lending.
I’m James Slater, head of capital markets at CIBC Mellon and I’m delighted to be co-chairing this years RMA conference with Jim Martin from Citibank.
It’s a great honour to be here, thank you to the RMA Securities Lending committee for inviting me.
Jim Martin and I would like to thank the dedicated and very talented staff from the RMA – Curtis Knight and his team – because of their work this is going to be a first class conference.
Last year most of us missed this conference because it fell on the heels of one of the most difficult periods the financial markets have ever seen. For those of you who were here in Florida two years ago, our world has changed dramatically since that time…most of us would say forever.
There are almost 400 registered delegates for this conference. Your personal commitment to attending this event, speaks volumes given the current environment.
These are solid numbers but not unprecedented – what is unprecedented is the number of people who are here in person for this first session – why?
Could it be that our worlds are changing and that we all recognize that understanding our current realities has huge importance? Only when we have real clarity on our current reality can we develop a plan to move away, presumably to a better place.
Permit me to offer few opening thoughts on the state of our industry.
Within Financial services generally there has been incredible change, challenges, hardships and now great opportunity – our industry is no different.
· Several major players have disappeared in our market.
· Game changers are trying to break into our market and change it forever.
· Regulators are increasingly focusing on our activities and on our closely connected activities and businesses.
· Risk appetites are being re-evaluated and transparency requirements have dramatically increased
Our industry is experiencing unprecedented times. Are we now at a strategic inflection point in the maturation of our industry? What does the future hold for us? Deep questions we all need to consider.
The rate of external change has accelerated significantly - risk, volatility, fear, regulatory change, technology, the growing complexity of institutional money manager activity, and globalization of financial markets are all changing with increasing velocity before our eyes.
Consider, the pace of change is so great that even if all we want is for things to stay the same, we need to change.
Fundamental questions around trust and transparency have emerged.
KPMG recently completed an institutional investor survey. The survey had 288 respondents across 29 countries.
The results are stark…
· 77% of investors felt that intermediaries were less trustworthy than politicians – now that is harsh! Let me repeat…can you believe that!
· 58% of institutional investors think investment managers should provide financial intermediaries with better product training to address the trust issues that intermediaries have.
· 62% of respondents agree that investment managers should give investors more transparency on investment risk.
We live in an increasingly competitive world - to remain competitive and relevant in a changing environment we need to constantly adjust and change ourselves. Keep in mind that personal transformation must precede corporate transformation. How can we ensure internal change happens within our organizations?
A quote for you -- “The art of Progress is to Preserve Order amid Change…and Preserve Change amid Order”
This quote by Alfred North Whitehead encapsulates the leadership challenge faced by businesses of all sizes and in all industries in today's competitive economic landscape. The balance required between maintaining some measure of order in business organizations while at the same time identifying and executing change strategies in order to achieve real progress is an issue that we all grapple with daily.
What can be done to restore these bonds of trust? How do we maintain the balances between group progress order and change? Is it not the time to get back to basics – caring, communication, client education, relationship management and training?
Again, deep questions for us to consider.
Our panels will provide you with tremendous insight into these and other issues - as we navigate into the future. The goal is for you to leave this conference with more insight, clarity and confidence on the business challenges you face.
