IMN: Opportunity, challenge, priority
18 February 2025
In its 30th year, attendees of IMN’s Beneficial Owners’ conference explored the unravelling political scene, key emerging markets, and regulatory initiatives impacting the industry globally. Carmella Haswell reports
Image: IMN
Set in sunny Florida, the IMN’s Beneficial Owners' International Securities Finance & Collateral Management Conference coordinated a two-day event which saw industry participants from the US, Canada, and Europe congregate to review the market.
The event marked the 30th year anniversary of the conference, which first debuted in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1995, previously titled The Beneficial Owners’ Summit on Domestic and International Securities Lending.
“When Eliot Jacobowitz of IMN first brought this conference to the securities lending market, it was right after the range floater debacle of the early 1990s. We all saw a chance to share lessons learned in a collegial forum,” says Ed Blount, executive director, Advanced Securities Consulting.
“Today, Elliot is retired, but IMN’s tradition lives on in Gareth, Peter, Lexy, and Carmella. Each has done an outstanding job of maintaining the conference agendas’ original focus on relevant context. Just as importantly, the panellists have always lived up to the highest standards. From a sponsors’ standpoint, it’s always an excellent group with which to work and socialise. This conference is an excellent value for our investment.”
Hosted in Fort Lauderdale, the event provides discussions on crucial market dynamics such as regulatory shifts, technological advancements, and structural transformations.
For Patrick Morrissey, director of product strategy, securities lending at Vanguard, the conference provided participants with the opportunity to understand the important headwinds, tailwinds, opportunities, and threats that each participant has to contend with.
“Panel participants and moderators were each able to take complex topics and answer important questions in an easily digestible manner. More broadly, the conference exemplified great content, differing perspectives, and the ability to collaborate, drive change, digest industry best practices, learn about cutting-edge technology, and maximise value,” he adds.
Crafted with the input of beneficial owners, for beneficial owners, the conference offers a platform to connect, exchange ideas, and to stay informed. Securities Finance Times reviews the key highlights of the event.
US administration takes centre stage
The conference opened up discussions with the ‘Global Securities Finance Market Outlook for 2025’ panel, which explored the unraveling political scene in the US, following Donald Trump’s reelection to the White House.
Moderated by Andrew Lazar, managing director, head of rates sales at BUCKLER Securities, the panel noted that much of investors’ time will be consumed with how the political scene will create situations in different sectors that may cause underperformance and opportunities for special trading.
It also highlighted the part the new administration will play in respect to M&A activity. Last year, and leading up to the election, M&A activity proved stagnant, according to Craig Starble, eSecLending CEO. He said that the administration will be more lenient for M&A activity this year, which should create special opportunities for client holdings in 2025.
In addition, tariffs will, in this environment, change things dramatically. Starble explains: “It'll, unfortunately, probably impact Fed policy too. Generally, tariffs — especially when they're retaliatory — can be significantly inflationary. So let's hope that these are short-term events and that we can work through it.”
The market saw the stock market fall on Monday 3 February following tariffs placed on Canada, Mexico, and China. Commenting on this, Starble added: “That does create opportunity for our markets. Sadly, we can say that volatility is a good thing for securities lending. It may not be great for long portfolios, but it's good for securities lending and creates some winner and loser opportunities.”
Going forward, and despite challenges, 2025 looks to be an interesting year and a better year, the panel heard.
Furthering the conversation, Justin Aldridge, senior vice president, head of Agency Lending at Fidelity Investments, said: “My glass is always half full, so my expectations are that it will be a good year from a lending perspective. There are two ways to get there. One, we get what we’re hoping for with this administration and we see more IPOs and M&A deals in the marketplace.
“The alternative, if that doesn’t happen, then maybe something is systematically wrong. And so we will probably see some single stock demand coming back into the marketplace.”
Aldridge is also keen to see activity in 2025 as it relates to the focus on borrowers' balance sheets, and the focus on “coming to the table with flexibility on balance sheet-friendly trade structures”. Fidelity Agency Lending, as a lender in the marketplace, is looking to actively help create trades and efficiencies for borrowing counterparties. He believes finding solutions to mitigate balance sheet usage will continue to be key for borrowing entities in 2025.
Also top of mind for industry participants is mandatory clearing, explained Margaret Anne Hennessy, director, head of Americas securities finance relationship management at BNY.
While the regulation is set to come into effect in June 2026, the US Treasury mandatory clearing mandate could be postponed.
Circling back to the US election results, Matthew Chessum, director of securities finance at S&P Global Market Intelligence, stated that, from a data perspective, some of the direct impacts seen in the financial market can pinpoint to the date of when the new US administration was elected. For example, a vast increase in the amount of short interest that took place over Asian microchip semiconductor stocks was connected to the tariffs hawk.
He also highlighted two recently reported “unheard of” events. The first was the Bank of England’s move to hold off on any transformation to advance to Basel III implementation, which he believes is a direct result of waiting to see what happens in the US under the new administration.
The second event was a decision by France and Germany to push back on new EU environmental, social, and governance (ESG) directives, as the regions were worried it would hamper their competition in relation to other states around the world. It is a “complete mindshift from where we've been over the last few months”, Chessum added.
He concluded: “From a pure regulatory perspective, there is a time for reflection, and that particularly in Europe, we're going to be responsive to what happens in the US, and that's going to directly impact our market.”
Asia and Europe for T+1
After a generative AI review on the seven critical questions facing lending agents by Ed Blount, executive director at Advanced Securities Consulting, and a Grow Your Network session hosted by Women in Securities Finance, industry participants coordinated a discussion on the success of T+1 in the US, despite initial anxiety and concern around the preparation for such a move.
Following the successful T+1 transition in the US, eyes are now on Europe and Asia and the “high potential” that they’ll be moving to a T+1 environment, according to Marney McCabe, head of relationship management for Agency Lending at Fidelity Investments.
Setting the scene, Bob Cavallo, director of securities finance and collateral product development at the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), detailed that when the US transitioned from T+3 to T+2 in 2017, it fell behind other jurisdictions which had ventured ahead with the move. With T+1, the US was leading the transition.
“The UK, EU, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are all looking to move to T+1 in October 2027. From a DTCC perspective, we have been collaborating with and actively sharing our feedback and key data points on same day affirmation and fail rates with the UK Accelerated Taskforce and ESMA, providing materials on what worked well during planning and implementation,” Cavallo explained.
He continued: “Coming out of T+1, 55 per cent of the trades that are done globally right now settle on a T+1 settlement cycle. When the UK and Europe move, the estimate is that we’re going to have close to 90 per cent of the trades being done on a T+1 settlement cycle.”
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has launched the EU T+1 coordination committee and has put together a governance structure to manage the migration to a shorter settlement cycle. An October 2027 move date for the UK, EU, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein has been confirmed.
The APAC region has also made reference to that same October time frame, said McCabe, “although they haven't formally announced that they would be following suit with Europe”.
During the panel — which was moderated by Mary Jane Schuessler, director of equity finance, Global Equity Finance at BMO Capital Markets — McCabe highlighted the stark difference between the US move to T+1 and what will be in store for other regions looking to do so.
She noted that while the T+1 playbook for the shorter settlement cycle can be leveraged, when a geographical area like Europe or Asia goes to T+1 it is going to be a different challenge for the industry as a whole, not just for securities lending, due to the fragmentation of those jurisdictions.
Furthering the conversation, McCabe pinpointed how T+1 has opened up the door to have direct conversations around finding a way to get sell notifications pre affirmation.
“The move to T+1 in Europe and APAC will further those discussions. There seems to be a little bit more openness, because pre-notifications can also open up at markets like Taiwan and soon South Korea,” she suggested.
Speaking to the panel, Mike Norwood, global head of Trading Solutions at EquiLend, posed the question: are there improvements that still need to be made in relation to T+1?
He indicated that this will depend on the processes firms are engaged with, operational touch points, and manual interventions. Norwood continued: “When there is opportunity to invest in technology and streamline processes and to take away reliance on non-real-time information, if there's an opportunity to embrace DLT, what does that bring to your infrastructure?”
He emphasised the importance of reviewing these key aspects “because the industry is not getting easier”.
“Things are going to become faster and faster. Mobility matters, velocity matters, access to information matters, reporting regimes are going to drive more ready access to information, and more repeated broadcast of that information,” he explained. “It is a never ending process. It constantly has to be evaluated, and where you can make those improvements, that investment will pay off.”
Emerging markets
Industry experts at the IMN conference praised South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Brazil for their growth opportunities in relation to the securities lending market, in the ‘New Markets & Growth Opportunities’ panel that reviewed the key emerging markets catching the eye of participants.
Moderated by Patrick Morrissey, head of product and strategy, securities lending, Vanguard, one panellist provided a rundown of the key APAC markets. Michael Daly, vice president of client service and relationship management at Goldman Sachs Agency Lending, opened with a discussion on South Korea, which has become “a largely significant market for many asset managers over the last couple of years from a lending return perspective”.
At the end of 2023, short sell bans were implemented in this market which caused lending returns to fall off the cliff in 2024. He explained: “We’re all largely expecting those short sell bans to end in March this year. There are questions as to whether lending returns will come back drastically in any form or fashion after that. Political and economic uncertainty continues in the marketplace.”
For S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Chessum, South Korea is going to hold several new and exciting opportunities for securities lending. “The South Korean equity market is really known for its volatility. To be honest, it's quite sensitive to global economic conditions and geopolitical events. And some of the companies within South Korea have quite a unique corporate governance structure as well, which leads to further directional opportunities for lenders,” he confirmed.
Following a similar story to South Korea, Turkey faced short sell bans which were enacted in early 2023, leading demand to fall off precipitously at that point, said Daly. He continued: “Those short sell bans for the top 50 securities in the marketplace had been lifted as of January, and we have already started to see a little uptick in demand in that marketplace which is certainly a good sign for most Lenders.”
Moving the panel forward, Daly mentioned the potential changes that are “being kicked around” by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Thailand, where foreign investors that transact in the marketplace will need to follow the same rules and regulations as local investors. “There are a lot of question marks in terms of whether that’s going to impact lending demand for the long term in that market.”
Chessum added to the conversation by looking at Thailand’s potential going forward in 2025, where there are “real expectations” for a rebound in Thailand for securities lending activity. He explained: “Lots of analysts are predicting that the Thai economy is going to benefit from a synchronised global economic recovery, and some of the interest rate cuts that we've seen in the developed world as well, that's helping to focus attention on some of these emerging markets again.”
With market volatility quite high in the Thai market, the Bank of Thailand has come out in support of securities lending activity. Reviewing the performance of securities lending in APAC as a whole, Taiwan lending performance was strong over the past 12 to 16 months. Daly noted the significant lending returns seen in the market for asset managers and beneficial owners that are able to transact in that marketplace.
According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Taiwan became the highest revenue-generating market in the APAC region throughout 2024, taking in US$768 million worth of revenues, a 38 per cent increase year-on-year (YoY). The revenues generated in Taiwan were equal to the six biggest revenue generating countries across the EMEA equities region.
Despite this promising market, Daly did warn of the “significant barriers to entering the market from a lending perspective”. Whether it be presale notification to an agent lender, he said there are certainly “significant penalties for non-settlement in the marketplace that may prevent beneficial owners from entering the market”.
Circling back to high performing equities markets, Chessum highlighted Malaysia as one of Southeast Asia's strongest performing equity markets in 2024 from a cash equity perspective. It was also one of the best performing APAC markets for IPOs. It surpassed Indonesia as the region's biggest equity listings venue.
Lastly, heading over to South America, Kyle Kolasingh, head of Markets Services Solutions at RBC Investor Services, noted Brazil has risen to the top of the list for many industry participants.
“Brazil has the potential to be a superlative market in the Americas today. It opened in 1996. Where they are today, the market has not yet been able to fulfil its liquidity goals and openness to foreign investors. The difference that we're hearing in the conversation presently versus 10 years ago is that we're seeing momentum coming out of the stock exchange,” Kolasingh informed.
He continued to add that the Brazilian market “is a great source of value”. In terms of Americas equity figures for 2024, Kolasingh said it was the only market to have a positive YoY ending. The average fees tend to be anywhere between 150 and 200 basis points.
While Chessum noted a 15 per cent decline in the Brazilian stock market in 2024 — one of the steepest declines across all emerging markets — there are opportunities in Brazil as 10 stocks generated 50 per cent of annual revenues for the marketplace. Ambipar Participacoes e Empreendimentos shares generated around 20 per cent of all revenues.
Chessum added: “If you look at Brazil as a whole market, it did quite well in terms of securities lending revenues on a YoY basis last year. Market revenues were US$51.6 million, up 51 per cent YoY.”
Concluding the roundup on Brazil, Kolasingh warned that the main barrier to the Brazilian market, from a foreign perspective, is the fact that it is CCP today, so it presents principal risk issues for certain types of asset owners and asset managers that cannot absorb that type of risk because of various regulatory structures.
As the conference came to a close, it is evident that the issues, opportunities and priorities discussed at this year’s event will continue to be hot topics for 2025 as participants navigate this changing and challenging landscape.
The event marked the 30th year anniversary of the conference, which first debuted in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1995, previously titled The Beneficial Owners’ Summit on Domestic and International Securities Lending.
“When Eliot Jacobowitz of IMN first brought this conference to the securities lending market, it was right after the range floater debacle of the early 1990s. We all saw a chance to share lessons learned in a collegial forum,” says Ed Blount, executive director, Advanced Securities Consulting.
“Today, Elliot is retired, but IMN’s tradition lives on in Gareth, Peter, Lexy, and Carmella. Each has done an outstanding job of maintaining the conference agendas’ original focus on relevant context. Just as importantly, the panellists have always lived up to the highest standards. From a sponsors’ standpoint, it’s always an excellent group with which to work and socialise. This conference is an excellent value for our investment.”
Hosted in Fort Lauderdale, the event provides discussions on crucial market dynamics such as regulatory shifts, technological advancements, and structural transformations.
For Patrick Morrissey, director of product strategy, securities lending at Vanguard, the conference provided participants with the opportunity to understand the important headwinds, tailwinds, opportunities, and threats that each participant has to contend with.
“Panel participants and moderators were each able to take complex topics and answer important questions in an easily digestible manner. More broadly, the conference exemplified great content, differing perspectives, and the ability to collaborate, drive change, digest industry best practices, learn about cutting-edge technology, and maximise value,” he adds.
Crafted with the input of beneficial owners, for beneficial owners, the conference offers a platform to connect, exchange ideas, and to stay informed. Securities Finance Times reviews the key highlights of the event.
US administration takes centre stage
The conference opened up discussions with the ‘Global Securities Finance Market Outlook for 2025’ panel, which explored the unraveling political scene in the US, following Donald Trump’s reelection to the White House.
Moderated by Andrew Lazar, managing director, head of rates sales at BUCKLER Securities, the panel noted that much of investors’ time will be consumed with how the political scene will create situations in different sectors that may cause underperformance and opportunities for special trading.
It also highlighted the part the new administration will play in respect to M&A activity. Last year, and leading up to the election, M&A activity proved stagnant, according to Craig Starble, eSecLending CEO. He said that the administration will be more lenient for M&A activity this year, which should create special opportunities for client holdings in 2025.
In addition, tariffs will, in this environment, change things dramatically. Starble explains: “It'll, unfortunately, probably impact Fed policy too. Generally, tariffs — especially when they're retaliatory — can be significantly inflationary. So let's hope that these are short-term events and that we can work through it.”
The market saw the stock market fall on Monday 3 February following tariffs placed on Canada, Mexico, and China. Commenting on this, Starble added: “That does create opportunity for our markets. Sadly, we can say that volatility is a good thing for securities lending. It may not be great for long portfolios, but it's good for securities lending and creates some winner and loser opportunities.”
Going forward, and despite challenges, 2025 looks to be an interesting year and a better year, the panel heard.
Furthering the conversation, Justin Aldridge, senior vice president, head of Agency Lending at Fidelity Investments, said: “My glass is always half full, so my expectations are that it will be a good year from a lending perspective. There are two ways to get there. One, we get what we’re hoping for with this administration and we see more IPOs and M&A deals in the marketplace.
“The alternative, if that doesn’t happen, then maybe something is systematically wrong. And so we will probably see some single stock demand coming back into the marketplace.”
Aldridge is also keen to see activity in 2025 as it relates to the focus on borrowers' balance sheets, and the focus on “coming to the table with flexibility on balance sheet-friendly trade structures”. Fidelity Agency Lending, as a lender in the marketplace, is looking to actively help create trades and efficiencies for borrowing counterparties. He believes finding solutions to mitigate balance sheet usage will continue to be key for borrowing entities in 2025.
Also top of mind for industry participants is mandatory clearing, explained Margaret Anne Hennessy, director, head of Americas securities finance relationship management at BNY.
While the regulation is set to come into effect in June 2026, the US Treasury mandatory clearing mandate could be postponed.
Circling back to the US election results, Matthew Chessum, director of securities finance at S&P Global Market Intelligence, stated that, from a data perspective, some of the direct impacts seen in the financial market can pinpoint to the date of when the new US administration was elected. For example, a vast increase in the amount of short interest that took place over Asian microchip semiconductor stocks was connected to the tariffs hawk.
He also highlighted two recently reported “unheard of” events. The first was the Bank of England’s move to hold off on any transformation to advance to Basel III implementation, which he believes is a direct result of waiting to see what happens in the US under the new administration.
The second event was a decision by France and Germany to push back on new EU environmental, social, and governance (ESG) directives, as the regions were worried it would hamper their competition in relation to other states around the world. It is a “complete mindshift from where we've been over the last few months”, Chessum added.
He concluded: “From a pure regulatory perspective, there is a time for reflection, and that particularly in Europe, we're going to be responsive to what happens in the US, and that's going to directly impact our market.”
Asia and Europe for T+1
After a generative AI review on the seven critical questions facing lending agents by Ed Blount, executive director at Advanced Securities Consulting, and a Grow Your Network session hosted by Women in Securities Finance, industry participants coordinated a discussion on the success of T+1 in the US, despite initial anxiety and concern around the preparation for such a move.
Following the successful T+1 transition in the US, eyes are now on Europe and Asia and the “high potential” that they’ll be moving to a T+1 environment, according to Marney McCabe, head of relationship management for Agency Lending at Fidelity Investments.
Setting the scene, Bob Cavallo, director of securities finance and collateral product development at the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), detailed that when the US transitioned from T+3 to T+2 in 2017, it fell behind other jurisdictions which had ventured ahead with the move. With T+1, the US was leading the transition.
“The UK, EU, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are all looking to move to T+1 in October 2027. From a DTCC perspective, we have been collaborating with and actively sharing our feedback and key data points on same day affirmation and fail rates with the UK Accelerated Taskforce and ESMA, providing materials on what worked well during planning and implementation,” Cavallo explained.
He continued: “Coming out of T+1, 55 per cent of the trades that are done globally right now settle on a T+1 settlement cycle. When the UK and Europe move, the estimate is that we’re going to have close to 90 per cent of the trades being done on a T+1 settlement cycle.”
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has launched the EU T+1 coordination committee and has put together a governance structure to manage the migration to a shorter settlement cycle. An October 2027 move date for the UK, EU, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein has been confirmed.
The APAC region has also made reference to that same October time frame, said McCabe, “although they haven't formally announced that they would be following suit with Europe”.
During the panel — which was moderated by Mary Jane Schuessler, director of equity finance, Global Equity Finance at BMO Capital Markets — McCabe highlighted the stark difference between the US move to T+1 and what will be in store for other regions looking to do so.
She noted that while the T+1 playbook for the shorter settlement cycle can be leveraged, when a geographical area like Europe or Asia goes to T+1 it is going to be a different challenge for the industry as a whole, not just for securities lending, due to the fragmentation of those jurisdictions.
Furthering the conversation, McCabe pinpointed how T+1 has opened up the door to have direct conversations around finding a way to get sell notifications pre affirmation.
“The move to T+1 in Europe and APAC will further those discussions. There seems to be a little bit more openness, because pre-notifications can also open up at markets like Taiwan and soon South Korea,” she suggested.
Speaking to the panel, Mike Norwood, global head of Trading Solutions at EquiLend, posed the question: are there improvements that still need to be made in relation to T+1?
He indicated that this will depend on the processes firms are engaged with, operational touch points, and manual interventions. Norwood continued: “When there is opportunity to invest in technology and streamline processes and to take away reliance on non-real-time information, if there's an opportunity to embrace DLT, what does that bring to your infrastructure?”
He emphasised the importance of reviewing these key aspects “because the industry is not getting easier”.
“Things are going to become faster and faster. Mobility matters, velocity matters, access to information matters, reporting regimes are going to drive more ready access to information, and more repeated broadcast of that information,” he explained. “It is a never ending process. It constantly has to be evaluated, and where you can make those improvements, that investment will pay off.”
Emerging markets
Industry experts at the IMN conference praised South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Brazil for their growth opportunities in relation to the securities lending market, in the ‘New Markets & Growth Opportunities’ panel that reviewed the key emerging markets catching the eye of participants.
Moderated by Patrick Morrissey, head of product and strategy, securities lending, Vanguard, one panellist provided a rundown of the key APAC markets. Michael Daly, vice president of client service and relationship management at Goldman Sachs Agency Lending, opened with a discussion on South Korea, which has become “a largely significant market for many asset managers over the last couple of years from a lending return perspective”.
At the end of 2023, short sell bans were implemented in this market which caused lending returns to fall off the cliff in 2024. He explained: “We’re all largely expecting those short sell bans to end in March this year. There are questions as to whether lending returns will come back drastically in any form or fashion after that. Political and economic uncertainty continues in the marketplace.”
For S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Chessum, South Korea is going to hold several new and exciting opportunities for securities lending. “The South Korean equity market is really known for its volatility. To be honest, it's quite sensitive to global economic conditions and geopolitical events. And some of the companies within South Korea have quite a unique corporate governance structure as well, which leads to further directional opportunities for lenders,” he confirmed.
Following a similar story to South Korea, Turkey faced short sell bans which were enacted in early 2023, leading demand to fall off precipitously at that point, said Daly. He continued: “Those short sell bans for the top 50 securities in the marketplace had been lifted as of January, and we have already started to see a little uptick in demand in that marketplace which is certainly a good sign for most Lenders.”
Moving the panel forward, Daly mentioned the potential changes that are “being kicked around” by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Thailand, where foreign investors that transact in the marketplace will need to follow the same rules and regulations as local investors. “There are a lot of question marks in terms of whether that’s going to impact lending demand for the long term in that market.”
Chessum added to the conversation by looking at Thailand’s potential going forward in 2025, where there are “real expectations” for a rebound in Thailand for securities lending activity. He explained: “Lots of analysts are predicting that the Thai economy is going to benefit from a synchronised global economic recovery, and some of the interest rate cuts that we've seen in the developed world as well, that's helping to focus attention on some of these emerging markets again.”
With market volatility quite high in the Thai market, the Bank of Thailand has come out in support of securities lending activity. Reviewing the performance of securities lending in APAC as a whole, Taiwan lending performance was strong over the past 12 to 16 months. Daly noted the significant lending returns seen in the market for asset managers and beneficial owners that are able to transact in that marketplace.
According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Taiwan became the highest revenue-generating market in the APAC region throughout 2024, taking in US$768 million worth of revenues, a 38 per cent increase year-on-year (YoY). The revenues generated in Taiwan were equal to the six biggest revenue generating countries across the EMEA equities region.
Despite this promising market, Daly did warn of the “significant barriers to entering the market from a lending perspective”. Whether it be presale notification to an agent lender, he said there are certainly “significant penalties for non-settlement in the marketplace that may prevent beneficial owners from entering the market”.
Circling back to high performing equities markets, Chessum highlighted Malaysia as one of Southeast Asia's strongest performing equity markets in 2024 from a cash equity perspective. It was also one of the best performing APAC markets for IPOs. It surpassed Indonesia as the region's biggest equity listings venue.
Lastly, heading over to South America, Kyle Kolasingh, head of Markets Services Solutions at RBC Investor Services, noted Brazil has risen to the top of the list for many industry participants.
“Brazil has the potential to be a superlative market in the Americas today. It opened in 1996. Where they are today, the market has not yet been able to fulfil its liquidity goals and openness to foreign investors. The difference that we're hearing in the conversation presently versus 10 years ago is that we're seeing momentum coming out of the stock exchange,” Kolasingh informed.
He continued to add that the Brazilian market “is a great source of value”. In terms of Americas equity figures for 2024, Kolasingh said it was the only market to have a positive YoY ending. The average fees tend to be anywhere between 150 and 200 basis points.
While Chessum noted a 15 per cent decline in the Brazilian stock market in 2024 — one of the steepest declines across all emerging markets — there are opportunities in Brazil as 10 stocks generated 50 per cent of annual revenues for the marketplace. Ambipar Participacoes e Empreendimentos shares generated around 20 per cent of all revenues.
Chessum added: “If you look at Brazil as a whole market, it did quite well in terms of securities lending revenues on a YoY basis last year. Market revenues were US$51.6 million, up 51 per cent YoY.”
Concluding the roundup on Brazil, Kolasingh warned that the main barrier to the Brazilian market, from a foreign perspective, is the fact that it is CCP today, so it presents principal risk issues for certain types of asset owners and asset managers that cannot absorb that type of risk because of various regulatory structures.
As the conference came to a close, it is evident that the issues, opportunities and priorities discussed at this year’s event will continue to be hot topics for 2025 as participants navigate this changing and challenging landscape.
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