Over the past decade, SWIFT’s annual Sibos event has grown significantly. Here is a walk-through of this year’s highlights for securities market participants
Regular attendees at Sibos will notice a number of changes to the structure of this year’s event, which takes place from September 16-19 in Dubai—the first time it is being held in the Middle East.
Traditionally, the main conference sessions at Sibos have been organized into “streams,” such as payments, securities, treasury and trade. The 2013 program dispenses with that arrangement. It will instead address three key themes that cut across multiple functional areas—regulation, operational excellence and worldwide shifts.
“You’ll find securities-related issues within these themes as well as in the market infrastructure forum and a number of sessions in the standards forum,” says Fabian Vandenreydt, head of securities markets and core business development at SWIFT.
For the past few years, securities participants have begun the first morning of Sibos with an extended session on market infrastructures. “This year we are changing the formula, adding in payment market infrastructures as well,” says Vandenreydt. “The market infrastructure forum also carries over to the second day of the conference.”
The first session of the first morning in fact presents an intriguing choice for securities industry delegates. “Securities regulation” [09:30 – 10:30 Conference Room 2] will explore trends in regulation and the gaps and inconsistencies in emerging regulatory approaches. It will attempt to identify pain points at an operational level. Speakers include Angus Fletcher, head of market advocacy & business strategy, Deutsche Bank; Stewart Macbeth, general manager, managing director, Deriv/SERV, DTCC; Virginie O’Shea, analyst, Aite Group; Bruno Prigent, global head, Societe Generale Securities Services; and John Wilson, global head of OTC clearing, Newedge.
Taking place at the same time, the “Market infrastructures forum keynote” [09:30 – 10:30 Conference Room 1] offers an opportunity to hear Yves Mersch, member of the executive board, European Central Bank, in conversation with Jonathan Rosenthal, international banking correspondent, The Economist.
Vandenreydt highlights one session on the first morning, which he feels will be of special
interest to Global Custodian readers. “Does cost of regulation promote concentration risk?” [11:00 – 12:00 Conference Room 1], also billed as part of the Market Infrastructure Forum, focuses on potential unintended consequences of recent regulatory initiatives. Moderated by Dominic Hobson, editor in chief, Global Custodian, the panel includes executives from both payments and securities market infrastructures in Europe, U.S. and Asia.
In addition to assessing the growing demands that compliance places on the resources of firms of different sizes, the session will, Vandenreydt hopes, also explore the question of whether we are in danger of creating market infrastructures that are too big to fail.
To round off the first day, Vandenreydt recommends another session from the Market Infrastructures Forum. “CPSS-IOSCO” [16:00 – 17:00 Conference Room 1] will look at the implementation of the Principles
for Financial Market Infrastructures issued by CPSS-IOSCO in April 2012. Moderated by Emmanuel Daniel, chairman, The Asian Banker, the session brings diverse perspectives from David Puth, CEO, CLS Group; Daniela Russo, director general, payment and market infrastructure, European Central Bank; and Monica Singer, CEO, STRATE, the South African CSD.
An obvious highlight for the week as a whole is Wednesday afternoon’s session on “Custodian banks: Is it time to reinvent the model?” [16:00 – 17:00 CR3]. Bob Currie, editorial director, Financial Services Research, will help a panel of familiar and respected names—Drew Douglas of HSBC Securities Services, Goran Fors of SEB, Sean Pairceir of Brown Brothers Harriman, and Satvinder Singh of Deutsche Bank—identify the pressures on traditional revenue streams and the options for addressing them. “We’ve been talking a lot about the fact that custodians need to go beyond their traditional business owing to changes in the landscape,” says Vandenreydt. “Many of the panelists have been in the industry for a long time, and it will be interesting to see whether, in their experience, the challenges identified are indeed new.”
In addition to sessions identified by Vandenreydt, a trawl through the broader conference program yields a number of potential options. These include sessions in the SWIFT Auditorium and Community Rooms (see box) events that may once have been considered on the Sibos fringe but that offer promising opportunities for industry dialogue.
Avi Ghosh, head of marketing and communications, SIX Securities Services, has seen Sibos from both sides, having spent several years earlier in his career working on the event from within SWIFT. “The most challenging thing about Sibos is keeping track of all the moving parts,” says Ghosh. “This includes not just the range of clients, providers, competitors and SWIFT partners, but also the press—like Global Custodian and Sibos issues—all in addition to the conference content itself.” All in all, with the right preparation, he adds, “Sibos is an investment—never a cost.”
Sibos is often regarded as primarily a networking event. Readers attending in that frame of mind should nevertheless keep the following conference sessions in their diaries in addition to those already highlighted. Sessions are presented in chronological order.
Global OTC derivative regulations: What do you need to do and how can SWIFT help?
Monday 10:00 – 10:45 SWIFT Auditorium
As OTC derivatives regulations are rolled out across the world, market participants are having to integrate with multiple infrastructures. This session examines how SWIFT can help navigate the new landscape.
Global post trade: Where will it end?
Monday 16:00 – 17:00 Community Room 3
Major regulatory changes are driving competitive disruption in global post trade, resulting in opportunities and risks for market infrastructure providers. The session will focus on the new OTC operating model.
Movers and shakers: TARGET2-Securities
Tuesday 14:00 – 15:00 Conference Room 1
As a result of T2S, various industry players are diversifying and taking on new roles. Custodians are entering the CSD space, CSDs are thinking about offering more custody services and CCPs are assessing how to take advantage of the changing landscape. This session will explore how these trends are increasing pressure on traditional market infrastructures. Speakers include Alan Cameron of BNP Paribas, Nadine Chakar of BNY Mellon, Mark Gem of Clearstream International, Jean-Michel Godeffroy of European Central Bank and Virginie O’Shea of Aite Group.
Reinventing market infrastructures (MI Forum closing debate)
Tuesday 16:00 – 17:00 Conference Room 1
An increased focus on cost, as well as ever-intensifying regulatory demands and requirements around liquidity, collateral and risk controls, will change securities and payment market infrastructures. Discussing how will be Wouter De Ploey of McKinsey & Company, Chris Hamilton of Australian Payments Clearing House, Lieve Mostrey of Euroclear, Ebru Pakcan of Citi and David Yates of VocaLink.
Asset servicing: The industry walks the talk? Why is the pace of automation suddenly accelerating?
Wednesday 09:30 – 10:30 Conference Room 3
This session will explore the key drivers of acceleration in corporate action automation. What are the immediate and mid-long terms benefits? What are the risks to be aware of? Speakers include Tim Lind of Thomson Reuters, Jim Phalen of State Street Corporation, Philippe Ruault of BNP Paribas and Andrew White of ASX.
European harmonization: T2S, CSD Regulation…are we ready?
Wednesday 14:00 – 15:00 Conference Room 3
The operational go-live for T2S is getting closer and the proposed CSD Regulation will herald further change including the implementation of a T+2 settlement regime. How well-prepared are market participants to accommodate this change? What new business and operating models need to be adopted to ensure survival and success in the T2S environment? The panel includes Charles Cock of BNP Paribas Securities Services, Alessandro Di Michele of Monte Titoli, Adolfo Garcia of Santander Group, Frederic Hannequart of Euroclear and Elizabeth Lumley of Finextra.
Africa: What role do securities market infrastructures play in attracting foreign investment to African markets?
Thursday 11:00 – 12:00 Conference Room 2
What is required to attract more participation in Africa’s capital markets and boost intra-African investment? How important is technical infrastructure in attracting investment? How important is adherence to global standards, such as CPSS/IOSCO? Moderated by Herbie Skeete of Mondo Visione, the panel comprises Sunil Benimadhu of the Stock Exchange of Mauritius, Leila Fourie of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Tim Masela of South African Reserve Bank, Cyrille Nkontchou of Enko Capital and Nerina Visser of Nedbank Capital.
–Richard Schwartz