10 December 2025 ICMA’s guide provides an overview of the Indian repo market, highlighting recent developments and describing the structure and operation of the market, its infrastructure, types of collateral and counterparties, and the legal and regulatory framework.Download the ICMA guide to Asia Repo Markets: India (ICMA Members only)This is the eighth in a series of reports on domestic repo markets that ICMA is publishing as part of its continued commitment to promoting the development of repo markets around the world. Guides to domestic repo markets in China, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea and Vietnam, were published in 2022 and 2023 (ICMA member login required), and Australia in 2024.ICMA has played a significant role in promoting the international repo market since the 1990s. This includes the development of the Global Master Repurchase Agreement (GMRA), which has become the principal master agreement for cross-border repos globally, as well as for many domestic repo markets, supported by annually updated legal opinions in over 70 jurisdictions (view a full list of jurisdictions covered by the 2025 legal opinions update). 

ICMA is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Hans-Joerg Rudloff, who served as Chairman of the International Capital Market Association from June 2005 to May 2011. A defining figure in the development of the international capital markets, he was widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Eurobond market and a central architect of its modern form.Mr Rudloff’s contribution to global finance spanned nearly five decades. His career began at Credit Suisse in Geneva in 1965, followed by more than a decade at Kidder Peabody in New York. He returned to Credit Suisse in 1980, a period in which the Eurobond market expanded rapidly, multiplying tenfold over the decade and reshaping international funding practices.As ICMA Chairman, Mr Rudloff guided the Association through a period of exceptional change. His tenure encompassed the global financial crisis, a time that demanded clarity of purpose and firm stewardship. Under his leadership, ICMA divested its commercial operations and refocused its mission on strengthening market standards, improving efficiency in cross-border securities markets, and reinforcing the importance of sound practices across primary, secondary, and repo markets. His influence helped set the direction for the modern ICMA: a public-interest body committed to resilient, well-functioning international capital markets.Even after stepping down from ICMA in 2011 and retiring from investment banking in 2014, Mr Rudloff remained active in the industry. His impact on market structure, on generations of practitioners, and on ICMA’s evolution will be long-lasting.ICMA extends its condolences to his family, friends, and former colleagues. We honour his leadership, his vision for the international capital markets, and his significant contribution to the Association’s history.

28 November 2025 ICMA has responded to the Bank of England’s exploratory discussion paper, Enhancing the resilience of the gilt repo market.In responding to this discussion paper, ICMA convened a dedicated taskforce from its diverse membership. This was coordinated through ICMA’s European Repo and Collateral Council as well as through its Asset Management and Investor Council (AMIC). The Taskforce includes gilt-edged market maker (GEMM) repo traders, other active sell sides in the gilt repo market, as well as firms from the buy-side, including pension funds, insurers, UCITS asset managers, money market funds (MMFs), alternative investors (hedge funds), trading venues (cash and repo), central counterparties (CCPs), and custodians. Essentially, the Taskforce represents the entire gilt and gilt repo market ecosystem, and a diversity of perspectives and priorities.In its response, ICMA recognises the important benefits of central clearing for gilt repo, and the potential for increased non-bank participation, not least in reducing counterparty credit risk and expanding liquidity provision. ICMA notes the initiatives currently being undertaken by CCPs to support broader clearing participation, while maintaining the integrity of CCP risk management frameworks. Furthermore, ICMA identifies a number of regulatory initiatives that could help to remove barriers to access and so encourage non-bank participation in central clearing.However, based on the unanimous member consensus, ICMA strongly opposes the suggestion of mandatory clearing for gilt repo. This would increase costs and restrict access for some participants, undermine the maturity transformation function of repo intermediation, and increase procyclicality. It is also not clear what the purpose of mandating clearing would be, and that the arguments relating to transparency, leverage, or counterparty credit risk are each flawed in the context of the UK market. Ultimately this would be a cost, and a risk, to gilt market stability and so to the UK economy. Clearing should be a commercial choice based on cost and risk considerations of the market participant and their clients.Also based on broad consensus of members, the suggestion of minimum haircuts for bilateral gilt repo is dismissed for a number of reasons. Prime among these are: the fact that haircuts are a transaction-level tool intended to hedge liquidation risk and not intended to manage leverage; they do not take account of firms’ individual, counterparty-level risk management frameworks and risk appetite; and that they can introduce an additional and unnecessary cost and friction to trading in benign markets while quickly becoming redundant in volatile markets.ICMA identifies a number of other policy measures, beyond improving access to clearing, that could be considered to enhance gilt market resiliency. Chief among these is the potential for enhancements to the operational resilience of the Sterling Monetary Framework (SMF), which could be the most meaningful and ultimately valuable outcome of this consultation. Promoting bank risk-management practices, in a number of areas, could also be a positive contributor to market resilience.A well-functioning repo market is critical to the smooth and efficient operation of the gilt and other sterling fixed income markets, as well as for the effective transmission of monetary policy. Any additional costs to accessing the gilt market are a cost to UK taxpayers and savers, while any measures that make the gilt market more vulnerable to market volatility, or threatens its ability to function normally, particularly in times of stress, is a direct threat to the UK Government’s growth agenda.

The Executive Committee of the Principles has decided to set up the following Working Groups (WGs) and Taskforces (TFs) for 2025/2026.Registration to those WGs and TFs is restricted to the Members and Observers of the Principles.Interested Members & Observers are invited to send their registration request to the Secretariat of the Principles at sustainabilitybonds@icmagroup.org at their earliest convenience and no later than 16 January 2026.Please note that there is no automatic renewal of past registrations. Each organisation must reapply for this new term.In order to keep each WG/TF relevant and manageable in terms of size, the involvement of participants is subject to adequate contributions of expertise and the operational capacity of the WG/TF.Organisations can apply as: an active contributing member ("Active contributing members" are selected by the WG/TF Coordinators based on the candidacies of the interested parties. The required expertise can depend on the specific objectives as described in the ToR of each WG/TF. The number of active contributing members is limited.), or a participating member ("participating members" will be consulted as appropriate by the WG/TF Coordinators). The detailed Terms of References (ToR) as well as the list of the WG/TF members will be published end of January 2026. Topic Coordinators Objectives  Active Contributors  Impact Reporting for Social Bonds - working group BNP Paribas AM - CEB - EBRD - IFC - World Bank 1. Complement the Handbook with sector specific guidance and metrics related to the eligible social projects (continuing with Affordable Basic Infrastructure).2. Address the topic of digital inclusion across social categories.3. Consider adding Q&As on specific target population (children, indigenous populations, etc.) or on any initiatives related to Social/Sustainability Bonds.  Should be limited to 10 organisations with relevant knowledge / experience in the topics described in the objectives.  Climate Transition Finance - working group BNP Paribas - BNP Paribas AM - CACIB - HSBC - Natixis 1. Collate the feedback from the market stakeholders on the Climate Transition Bond Guidelines. 2. Review and expand the Guidelines and appendix, if appropriate.3. Prepare and publish Q&As where relevant and required and illustrate the implementation of the Guidelines with concrete project examples, involving technical and industry experts where needed.4. Initiate outreach to officials and regulators.  Should be limited to 15/20 institutions, ensuring a balanced representation of issuers, underwriters and investors, but also organisations involved in Net Zero alignment assessments.  Official Standards and the GBP - taskforce CACIB - EIB Ultimate objective: dissipate uncertainty as to how different official standards relate to the GBPs, thereby reinforcing the role of the GBP as common denominator and active promoter of the green bond market globally. Methodological approach: a) use existing official standards and compare their non-taxonomy requirements with the recommendations of the GBP b) distil practical advice on how to efficiently articulate the compliance with both of them at the same time to generate synergies.  Should be limited to 10/15 organisations with relevant knowledge and experience in the topics, while ensuring a balanced representation of different member types – and with geographic diversification, including outside the European Union.  FinTech & Digitalisation and Sustainable Finance - taskforce ICMA Provide a forum for discussion on how digitalisation can support ICMA’s sustainable finance agenda. Not applicable.

27 November 2025 ICMA’s European Repo and Collateral Council (ERCC) has today released the results of its 49th semi-annual survey of the European repo market.The survey measured and analysed the value of outstanding repo plus reverse repo on the books of 59 participants at close of business on 11 June 2025. Given that the ICMA surveys a sample of the European repo market, the headline number must be taken as the minimum size of the European market.Download the 49th ICMA ERCC European Repo Market SurveyThe total value of the repo books of the survey sample jumped 11.9% year-on-year to EUR 12,435 billion. The driver seems to have been the financial market volatility and economic uncertainty triggered by the shock of hikes and threats of hikes in trade tariffs by the US Administration, which increased demand for precautionary liquidity but also encouraged investors to seek shelter in the money market, not least in repo.Summary of key findings: The growth in the survey sample largely reflected continued strong growth in euro-denominated repos against Italian and other “peripheral” eurozone government bonds, while the shares of repos against French, German and some other “core” government bonds continued to contract. US Treasuries continued to expand its share and they remain the largest collateral component in survey. UK gilt and, even more so, JGB repo also lost share. Strong activity in peripheral eurozone government bonds boosted the shares of the interdealer automatic trading systems (ATS) and also of CCP-clearing, reflecting the close connection between ATS and CCP. Data from the systems showed that outstanding ATS-traded repo reached a record size. Voice-brokers continued to recapture share. Automated trading systems, which serve the dealer-to-customer repo market, resumed rapid growth on the back of buoyant hedge fund trading. The share of tri-party repo in the repo books of the survey sample fell back slightly but the total value of outstanding tri-party repo positions (for the whole market and not just the survey sample) reached a new record. There was an across-the-board extension of average residual maturities, with larger shares for positions with two days and one month remaining, in part, reflecting official investors employing term repo for the re-investment of cash balances. This shift continues the expansion in the share of short-dated repo (one month or less to maturity) seen since 2023. In terms of net repo positions, the survey sample was a net borrower for one day and a net lender across all other maturities, increasing the degree of maturity transformation provided to the rest of the European repo market. The share of floating-rate repo recovered, which could suggest that the market is starting to discount the possibility of further central bank rate cuts.

ICMA welcomes the following new members in November 2025: Pershing LLC, USA Swedbank AB, Lithuania Click here to view the full list of ICMA members.

21 November 2025 The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) is pleased to announce the publication of a joint statement of views on the package of reforms proposed by the European Commission regarding the EU securitisation framework in June 2025 from the perspective of investors in securitisations (the buy-side). The joint statement sets out the shared views of ICMA and six other trade associations (AFME, AIMA, EFAMA, IACPM, LMA and MFA).The associations welcome the reforms proposed that have the goal of revitalising the securitisation market in the EU, which is essential to the Savings and Investment Union (SIU), enables funding for SMEs, and supports Europe’s green and digital transitions.However, increasing investor demand is also essential to revitalising the European securitisation market. The associations are concerned that certain measures currently being considered may discourage rather than encourage investment in securitisation.In particular, the associations wish to highlight the following: The proposed reforms limit global market access, with fewer opportunities for EU savers and businesses to invest in non-EU securitisations. Investors are deterred by disproportionate monetary sanctions. Reclassifying private securitisations as public securitisations increases the reporting burden on these transactions, which are substantially private in nature or are not intended to fall within the EU securitisation framework. Reporting of private securitisations to repositories increases costs with no meaningful benefit. The associations welcome the European Commission’s commitment to revitalising the EU securitisation market. However, certain elements of the current proposals risk undermining the very objectives they aim to achieve. Ahead of upcoming deliberations, the associations call on EU co-legislators to adopt a more proportionate, pragmatic, and globally aligned approach—one that truly reinvigorates the EU securitisation market and positions it as a vital tool for financing Europe’s growth.View the full Statement.

19 November 2025 The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has today released a new paper entitled "Creating the conditions to scale up the European commercial paper market", which explores practical steps to strengthen, harmonise and expand the European CP market.The analysis sets out how a more transparent, standardised and diversified CP ecosystem could support deeper capital markets, enhance short term funding options for issuers and advance policy objectives under the European Commission’s Savings and Investments Union plan. The paper highlights that the European market, valued at around EUR 1.27 trillion, is sizeable but fragmented across several distinct segments. While each works effectively in isolation, this fragmentation leads to operational complexity, uneven transparency and limited scalability compared with the more standardised US CP market. Despite these challenges, European CP has shown strong growth and resilience since 2022.Key Highlights:Transparency The absence of a consolidated, publicly accessible source of issuance and pricing data limits price discovery and market confidence. Centralised data aggregation, potentially via a European public authority, would support clearer curves, better valuation and more efficient secondary activity. Standardisation Differences in documentation, settlement systems, denominations, maturities and governing law create friction and cost. Greater alignment in these areas could streamline operations, reduce legal complexity and improve accessibility for both issuers and investors. Diversity of issuers and investors Broadening CP eligibility to a wider spectrum of credit profiles, alongside recalibrating elements of the MMF Regulation and Basel III, would boost supply and demand. Encouraging European retail participation in MMFs and reallocating corporate cash from deposits to market based instruments could materially expand the investor base. Additional structural measures Growth in European asset backed commercial paper, a functioning repo market for CP, broader HQLA recognition and expanded central bank eligibility would all contribute to deeper liquidity and greater market stability. Innovation With its contained scale and short term nature, the CP market is a strong candidate for process digitisation and DLT based solutions. Tokenised MMF units, in particular, hold potential to improve collateral mobility and reduce operational friction. Overall, the paper concludes that targeted regulatory alignment, increased transparency, stronger standardisation and selective technological adoption can help unlock the full potential of the European CP market, enabling it to play a more central role in Europe’s short term funding landscape.Download the full paper here.

All European repo market participants are invited to participate in ICMA's 50th survey of the European repo market. The survey will be based on data of the repo business outstanding at close of business of Wednesday, 10 December 2025.PARTICIPATE

12 November 2025 The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) is pleased to announce the publication of two key deliverables under the Project Guardian Fixed Income workstream, convened by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The reports — a Delivery versus Payment (DvP) settlement guide for DLT-based debt securities and Lessons learned from Custody arrangements for DLT-based debt securities — have been released as an addendum to the Guardian Fixed Income Framework (GFIF) during the Singapore FinTech Festival 2025.Building on the initial GFIF published in November 2024, the latest reports represent an important step forward in the development of digital bond markets. They provide practical information on settlement assets, including wholesale CBDC, tokenised bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins, as well as a foundation to facilitate custody of tokenised instruments within fixed income markets.The Fixed Income workstream brings together regulators, market infrastructures and financial institutions to explore the practical application of tokenisation and DLT in bond markets. The new deliverables draw on the collective expertise of a diverse group of global market participants to address two critical enablers for scaling DLT adoption: on-chain settlement mechanisms and robust custody models.Bryan Pascoe, Chief Executive of ICMA, said: “ICMA is proud to continue its collaboration with MAS and leading market participants through Project Guardian. These publications reflect our shared ambition to shape the next generation of fixed income markets and ensure that innovation develops in a safe, efficient, and globally interoperable manner. As tokenisation advances, ICMA remains committed to supporting the industry through standards, transparency, and practical guidance.”Gabriel Callsen, Senior Director, ICMA and Project Guardian workstream lead, added: “ICMA’s leadership of the Project Guardian Fixed Income workstream underscores its central role in fostering the digital evolution of international bond markets and aligns with its broader mission to promote well-functioning, cross-border capital markets that support sustainable economic growth.”More information on ICMA’s FinTech and digitalisation initiatives, including its work on DLT, digital bonds, and tokenisation, can be found here.

6 November 2025 On the occasion of its Annual Conference, the Executive Committee of the Green, Social, Sustainability and Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles (the “Principles”), supported by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), announces guidance for Climate Transition Bonds.The Principles are the global standard for the $6 trillion sustainable bond market that represents the largest source of market finance dedicated to sustainability and climate transition, available internationally to corporates and financial institutions, supranationals, agencies and sovereigns.Key publications and resources released today are: The Climate Transition Bond Guidelines (CTBG), which introduce the use of Climate Transition Bond (CTB) as a standalone label for use-of-proceeds bonds, based on a definition and safeguards for Climate Transition Projects, alongside a preliminary, non-exhaustive list of project categories.Climate Transition Projects complement and typically go beyond the scope of the Green Bond Principles (GBP) in addressing today’s decarbonisation and emissions-reduction challenges, in pursuit of the goals of the Paris Agreement. The Guidelines also make recommendations for high-emission issuers of climate transition-themed Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLBs). The new edition of the Climate Transition Finance Handbook (CTFH) references the Climate Transition Bond Guidelines and includes a new annex on transition-plan frameworks, as well as tools and methodologies available to assess their credibility. See the Mapping of the Principles for a holistic overview.The 2025 Annual Conference of the Principles is being held in hybrid format in Tokyo on Thursday, 6 November, co-hosted by the Japan Securities Dealers Association (JSDA). The full-day conference agenda combines keynote speeches and panel discussions with leading official sector and market representatives. It features key updates on the 2025 guidance from the Principles and explores critical topics in sustainable finance from a global perspective, including transition finance, nature and social bonds, green-enabling guidance, market integrity and regulation.

31 October 2025 ICMA’s new paper takes a clear-eyed look at how both compliance and voluntary carbon markets function today, the integrity challenges shaping their development, and where the real opportunities lie for market participants.The paper traces the rapid expansion of compliance markets, now covering more than a quarter of global emissions, and explores how these mechanisms could influence capital market activity, particularly in trading, hedging, and structured finance. It also clarifies the more limited, but potentially complementary, role of voluntary carbon markets in transition strategies and in innovative sustainable bond issuance.Key insights: Compliance markets dominate in scale and liquidity. Traded value in regulated allowance systems reached about USD 950 billion in 2024, with the EU ETS leading global activity. Growth in voluntary markets and carbon offsets will remain dependent on the evolution of aviation generated demand through CORSIA, as well as further progress on integrity and recognition. Offsets have a narrowly defined role in transition finance. Guidance, including ICMA’s Climate Transition Finance Handbook, limits offsets to residual emissions, but new structures such as World Bank outcome bonds show how they can contribute to innovation in sustainable bonds. Compliance markets and their international expansion fueled notably by the EU's CBAM represent the real opportunity centered on risk management and derivatives trading of carbon allowances.

ICMA welcomes the following new members in October 2025: Carmo and Cerqueira, SROC, Lda., Portugal Chiomenti Studio Legale, Italy Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (CGIF), Philippines Nationwide Building Society, United Kingdom Natixis Investment Managers International, France Nomura Singapore Limited, Singapore Click here to view the full list of ICMA members.

14 October 2025 ICMA, jointly with with AFME and ISDA, published a briefing paper on the changes of the Systematic Internaliser (SI) regime on bonds and derivatives.The paper provides information about the practical implications of the changes to the SI regime and the introduction of DPE/DR regimes, with some guidance that the de-registration of bond/derivative SIs is to be expected, with no adverse effect on post-trade reporting or the provision of liquidity.View the paper

13 October 2025 The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has been appointed to co-chair the newly established IOSCO-AMCC Working Group on NBFI, Market Intermediaries and Financial Stability. This appointment underscores ICMA’s central role in international regulatory dialogue and its long-standing collaboration with IOSCO.The Working Group was created as part of a broader restructuring of the IOSCO Affiliate Members Consultative Committee (AMCC), which introduced a number of new groups to better reflect IOSCO’s priority themes. The new Terms of Reference for the AMCC were approved by the IOSCO Board at its meeting in Doha in May 2025.Representing ICMA in this role will be Andy Hill, Managing Director and Co-Head of Market Practice and Regulatory Policy, who will serve as Co-chair alongside Federico Cupelli of EFAMA. Andy has been ICMA’s main representative within the AMCC since 2017 and brings extensive experience, having previously chaired the AMCC Bond Market Liquidity Working Party.Beyond this appointment, the ICMA secretariat will also play an active role across several other AMCC working groups, including those focused on Financial Innovation, Sustainable Finance, Emerging Risks, and Market Fragmentation. Together, these engagements ensure that ICMA members have a strong and influential voice at the highest levels of international standard-setting.This development reflects the constructive and strategic relationship that ICMA has built with IOSCO in recent years, both through its active AMCC participation and through bilateral cooperation, such as joint work on regulatory capacity building in developing markets.

9 October 2025 The latest edition of the ICMA quarterly report is now available.To access the report, click here.

8 October 2025 ICMA’s Secondary Market Practices Committee (SMPC) has published its semi-annual report that provides detailed data on EU and UK corporate bond market trading activity.This report provides an overview of European trading activity for corporate bond markets, comparing our latest findings with past performances since January 2022.The report is be published in two separate editions: A corporate edition (this report) A sovereign edition (earlier report) One of the core objectives of MiFID II/MiFIR was to provide greater public transparency of secondary trading activity in the EU and UK markets. As solutions have evolved to consolidate the disperse sources of public data, ICMA has sought to leverage the capabilities of such initiatives to provide a detailed and holistic view of bond market activity in the EU and UK.It is estimated that the report captures more than 80% of all secondary bond market transactions reported in the EU and UK and is therefore relatively representative of the aggregated bond market data as reported under the MiFID II/MiFIR obligation.This latest report provides 42 months of bond market data, covering the period January 2022 through to June 2025.  ICMA believes that this latest data set provides an even more accurate representation than previous reports.ICMA commits to updating this report on a semi-annual basis in order to be able to track long-term trends in secondary bond market structure and activity. ICMA also expects that in time both the depth and quality of the underlying data will improve, particularly as reports such as this seek to present a definitive picture of the European bond markets. More information about the SMPC can be found on the ICMA website. 

6 October 2025 Today ICMA and AFME jointly publish their template non-disclosure agreement for use in investment grade and sub-investment grade bond offerings and high yield and leveraged finance transactions (as well as other relevant capital markets transactions).The template has been designed to reduce the often timely and costly negotiations undertaken between the parties to a transaction where confidential information might be exchanged and used. It has been produced and reviewed by a comprehensive sample of the market, and is intended to serve as a market standard to help streamline processes and increase efficiency and certainty around such transactions.Nonetheless, use of this agreement is not mandatory, and some parties may prefer their own standard forms. In the context of investment grade and sub-investment grade bond transactions, this template may be considered appropriate and useful for debut, infrequent and/or emerging market issuers.The confidentiality agreement template in Word format can be accessed from the Other ICMA primary market materials page on ICMA’s website. The confidentiality agreement template has also been included as new Appendix A3a in ICMA’s Primary Market Handbook, which contains guidance and recommendations on the processes and documentation required for the issuance of international debt securities.

6 October 2025 An amendment to the ICMA Primary Market Handbook has been published today. For more information, see the ICMA Primary Market Handbook - Amendments/archive page.The associated circular to members is available here for ICMA members and ICMA Primary Market Handbook subscribers only (login details required).

2 October 2025 The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) is pleased to announce the publication of a legal opinion covering the Global Master Repurchase Agreement (GMRA) for Saudi Arabia, which recognises the enforceability of close-out netting under regulations published by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and Capital Markets Authority (CMA) earlier this year.This is an important milestone towards strengthening the stability and sustainability of the financial sector in the KSA, bringing the Kingdom's financial infrastructure in line with international standards.The ICMA GMRA 2025 opinions now include the netting coverage of 74 jurisdictions. All opinions cover at a minimum companies, banks and securities dealers. Most jurisdictions also cover insurance companies, hedge funds, mutual funds and pension funds (where generic coverage is possible) as parties to the GMRA.ICMA offers members* a business-critical service through the provision of these annually updated legal opinions.Full list of jurisdictions covered by the legal opinions*Full access to the ICMA GMRA legal opinions is not provided to non-subscribing tier 3 and associate members. Official institution members are exempt from the subscription service. For more information and to subscribe, click here.