I am busy preparing for quite a large number of conferences. Next week we bring the GSL Summits to New York for the first time. On June 3rd we go to Tokyo and the next week we are in Toronto. I am also moderating a panel at the ISLA conference in Berlin and then the following week I'm moderating another panel in Boston for IMN.
I regularly am told by people that there are just too many conferences, and I understand why people say that. Yet, I take a different view. Well I would, wouldn't I?
So how can I argue that these conferences add value and that there aren't too many. First of all, we need to exempt the ISLA, RMA and PASLA events from the discussion. These are events for the industry, and led by the regional trade associations. In addition to the content which get better year after year, these are also efficient gathering points for the business. These conferences focus on the issues that can be considered as part of the "inter-professional" marketplace.
Now let's turn to the conference organiser events. Why is GSL doing a dozen events around the world this year? We started in January in Stockholm and heard positive comments from a number of beneficial owners. "We don't go to securities lending conferences and are only here because the event was brought to Sweden" was a common comment. We then moved to London which included an address from Kevin McNulty, the CEO of ISLA. The audience included a number of beneficial owners as well as representatives from pension associations.
Frankfurt was next on the schedule and we saw an excellent presentation from Deutsche Bank on the global regulatory outlook. It also marked the first time that we had a panel focused on repo and liquidity management led by the Godfried de Vidts head of the European Repo Council. My gut feeling is that liquidity and collateral will become ever more important over the next couple of years.
Paris included a panel with LCH.Clearnet and Fortis - the provider and one user of the first European Central Counterparty. We discussed what was really happening in CCPs in Europe, rather than the theoretical chats that usually turn up at conferences.
The point is that we try to bring new ideas, different speakers and issues relevant to the local markets. Our model is designed to be accessible - we bring them to people around the world who wouldn't necessarily travel to conferences, they are free to beneficial owners, fund managers (including hedge fund managers), GSL subscribers, regulators and statutory bodies. They are only half day events, so no one has to commit to too much time out of the office. But enough of the sales pitch - that isn't the objective of this post. Competing conference organisers also will make the case that they add value by taking a different angle.
These events are about increasing communication and discussion and promoting openness. After years of concentrating on only the biggest markets, it is time to get the wider community of stakeholders involved. Bringing more people into these events around the world can surely only make the business stronger and better understood. Yes, some may already have conference fatigue. I look at it and say that anything we can do to widen the scope of understanding will have a positive impact the next time there is an attempt to whip up hysteria by the mainstream media or political figures. More informed interested parties make for better decisions and lessen the likelihood of ill-considered knee-jerk reactions.
We look forward to seeing you in Hong Kong, Amsterdam, London, Zurich, Boston and Luxembourg in the second half of the year.