ISLA announced the publication of a new set of standards and best practice guidelines in respect of data aggregation and calibration of performance-related metrics for securities lending. The standards set out in the guide have been developed by the ISLA Securities Lending Performance Measurement (SLPM) working group, launched some 18 months ago and chaired by Scott Baker, CFA.
In a statement, he said: “Firstly, allow me to extend my thanks to ISLA and the working group members for their huge contribution to this initiative. Their input and commitment has enabled us to grapple with a difficult topic in a considered and structured way, eventually allowing us to make our initial attempt at defining industry best practice.
“This is an unusual and important consultation paper, that will ultimately lead to greater transparency. It is unusual in the sense that it is not directly driven by regulation, rather by a self-identified weakness that impacts all industry participants in some way. It is important in that it begins to provide greater clarity on the level of returns generated and ultimately how constraints on how a lending program can impact performance. Transparency is driven by reliable and consistent data which, of course, enables us to see future opportunity.”