Peer Connections

GPFA Board Members Chris Benish (SWIB), Rob Goobie (HOOPP), Mike Johnson (CalPERS), and Jerry May (OPERS) sit down to celebrate the association's fifth anniversary and reflect on its evolution from buy side conference conversations into a volunteer led, global not for profit. They discuss GPFA's expansion from a focus on securities lending to a broader securities financing mindset, supported by cross disciplinary working groups that drive its initiatives. With more than 40 global members representing over $11T in assets, they look forward to what the next five years will bring.

Chris Benish is joined by Brock Bell from the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) to discuss VRS's asset allocation and their unique approach to leveraging. The conversation delves into various financing and liquidity management strategies, the rationale behind VRS's use of leverage, and the importance of diverse asset programs. They also cover swap capabilities, the necessary legal agreements for trading, and governance considerations.

GPFA's Private Credit discussion group is sharing their introduction session, which featured Jason Pearlstein from HOOPP, Lisa Mantello and Elizabeth Mpermperacis from Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, and Kristian Altier, from CalSTRS. The panel explored the basics of Private Credit and why it's growing in popularity.

Ahead of the ISLA Annual Securities Finance & Collateral Management Conference, Keren Halperin, Deputy CEO and Chief of Staff at Sharegain, joins Matt Brunette, Global Head of Financing at Norges Bank Investment Management, and Brooke Gillman for a deep dive into the evolving world of retail securities lending. As accessibility continues to expand and adoption grows, their conversation explores key lessons for lenders, the latest developments shaping the space, and the crucial role of technology and education in driving progress.

As the ISLA Annual Securities Finance & Collateral Management Conference approaches, Mathew McDermott, Global Head of Digital Assets at Goldman Sachs, joins Matt Brunette, Global Head of Financing at Norges Bank Investment Management, and Brooke Gillman for an insightful discussion on digital assets. Together, they examine the strategic impact of digital assets within securities finance, their potential benefits for beneficial owners and the broader market, and their transformative role in enhancing financing efficiency.

As ISLA has partnered with GPFA to engage more beneficial owners, Matt Brunette of Norges Bank Investment Management and active GPFA member is joined by Ina Budh-Raja of Bank of New York Mellon and Chair of the ISLA Board of Directors, and Andy Dyson, CEO of ISLA, to discuss the upcoming 2024 ISLA Conference. They talk about the panels they're most looking forward to and the positive impact when various players in the value chain gather to look to the future, discuss common challenges and create solutions together.

Chris Benish is joined by Mary Jane Schuessler, Managing Director at BMO Capital Markets and President of the CASLA board, to discuss the upcoming 2024 CASLA Conference, the history and evolution of the association, agenda items to look forward to and some advice for those visiting Toronto.

Matt Brunette of Norges Bank, Jerry May of OPERS and Michael Stamm of SWIB join Brooke Gillman to discuss the reasons each approach insourcing securities finance in different ways, from hybrid trading, to control over cash management, to owning risk or to managed agent models. No matter the route, each beneficial owner has evolved to meet their organization's needs while understanding their relative skill sets, resources, and operational capacities.

Chris Benish speaks with some of the newest GPFA members, Brian Yeazel and Kris Breitzman of Northwestern Mutual, about their approach to securities lending, repo, and cash collateral reinvestment and finds out what drove them to join GPFA.

Following the first GPFA podcast on indemnification, Matt Brunette from NBIM, Chris Benish from SWIB and Jerry May from OPERS continue the conversation comparing their views on how the cost of indemnification may impact the global beneficial owner community as well as the broader market. Read Mark Faulkner's paper here: http://globalpeerfinancingassociation.org/s/Something-Better-Change-13622-Credit-Benchmark.pdf

Matt Brunette from Norges Bank Investment Management and Mark Faulkner from Credit Benchmark discuss how regulatory capital constraints are impacting the market and how agent banks are starting to respond with real change to the way they do business and what may happen next Read Mark's paper here: http://globalpeerfinancingassociation.org/s/Something-Better-Change-13622-Credit-Benchmark.pdf

GPFA speaks with Thomas Aubrey to understand the impacts banking regulations will have on buy-side participants in the securities finance market View Thomas' paper entitled ‘EU capital rules to increase buyside trading costs' here: https://www.creditbenchmark.com/eu-capital-rules-to-increase-buyside-trading-costs/

Digging into the research, HOOP and SWIB presented their separate published papers on how to construct a better beta portfolio

GPFA talks to Jacky Lee of HOOPP and Redouane Elkamhi of the Rotman School of Management about their research work and published paper titled “Bridging the Gap between Strategic Allocation and Investment Risk"

Lisa Mantello from Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP led a renowned group of global experts in ESG investing through an interactive debate on the developments affecting ESG and financing today. Gordon L. Clark, from Oxford University, Timothy Hughes and Michael Innes from Osler and Oly Moir and Azadeh Nassiri from Slaughter and May joined the discussion with GPFA's global buyside member community.

Joris Hillmann, Michael Fitzsimmons and Shireen Silva discuss how AustralianSuper has evolved their securities lending program and what their build out plans are for the coming years as they focus on revenue, risk, collateral optimization and operational efficiencies on a global basis.

Jerry May from OhioPERS and Lisa Mantello from the law firm Osler break down the facts and discuss what should be considered as part of the transition.

Matt Brunette from NBIM joins us again to explain how risk modeling and analysis drives decision-making in their securities lending program

Matt Brunette walks us through the building blocks of the Norges Bank Investment Management securities lending program and how they slowly evolved by understanding risk, market demand and optimizing resources.

Global Peer Financing Association (GPFA) founding members Rob Goobie (HOOPP) and Dan Kiefer (CalPERS) along with GPFA sponsor Lisa Mantello (Osler, Hoskin, & Harcourt LLP) speak with moderator Charles Quintal at the CAiP Vitual Conference in December 2020 about how the association was formed and the future goals of the GPFA.

After a successful first 6 months of membership growth, GPFA looks to strengthen the community of beneficial owners knowing that they are Better Together with a collective voice and the ability to rely upon each other for best practices and experience.

Debbie Caruso from the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) chats with Lisa Mantello from Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Toronto about how securities lending and repo documents work when dealing with various counterparts.

Greg Corcoran chats with his colleagues Jerry May and Michael Lotko at the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) about how they approach the investment of the cash collateral associated with their securities lending program.

Steve Anderson and Rob Goobie chat about how securities financing has evolved at the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, known as HOOPP, and how their sophisticated approach to managing all financing activity in-house benefits their pensioners.

Speaking again to Dan Kiefer and Mike Johnson from CalPeRS about the market shift in collateral flexibility.

Dan Kiefer from CalPERS chats with Mark Faulkner from Credit Benchmark about credit views for non-traditional counterparts and how the peer to peer portion of the securities finance market may evolve.

Chris Benish, Ping Wong and Michael Stamm from the State of Wisconsin Investment Board review the past, present and future of securities financing activities at SWIB and discuss how peer to peer has allowed them to further optimize their counterparties.

Jerry May and Greg Corcoran from Ohio Public Employees Retirement System walk through the history and approach of securities lending at OPERS and how they constantly seek to innovate and learn from their peers.

Dan Kiefer and Mike Johnson chat about the history and evolution of the securities lending program at CalPERS, their current strategies and how peer lending fits into their model.