The International Capital Markets Association (ICMA), a European capital markets group, has formed the Collateral Initiatives Coordination Forum.
Established at the beginning of 2012, the Collateral Initiatives Coordination Forum (CICF) has been conceived as a joint trade associations’ body, in order to facilitate appropriate coordination across the private sector of all collateral-related initiatives.
Bringing together a broad range of representation from right across the financial industry, the CICF provides a channel for information sharing, education and joint endeavours in the field of collateral.
At this important juncture, ICMA considers there is a valuable opportunity to establish joint efforts to ensure that all collateral-related initiatives can be appropriately coordinated. This should include identification of any synergies, including opportunities to leverage efforts and experience. In the private sector ICMA is already seeking to achieve that by making available the necessary dedicated time from its staff to provide secretariat support to make possible a Collateral Initiatives Coordination Forum. This will be chaired by Godfried De Vidts and engage a wide range of industry trade associations with interests in the broad topic of collateral. An initial meeting of this Forum, which will inter alia aim to agree the Forum’s terms of reference, is planned for the end of January. An important measure of the success of the Forum will be ensuring that its work can effectively be channelled into applicable official sector projects.
The CICF has the support from eight other European capital markets associations.