Key updates on authentic global collaboration for sustainable finance
I was pleased to present “Sustainable Finance Principles and Securities Lending – A Transparency Update” to the Bank of England Securities Lending Committee last week. The Bank of England will release formal minutes in the near future, so there is no need for me to expand on details of the meeting here.
Although we covered a broad range of issues, one item we could not discuss was a paper I had published while chairing the ISLA Council for Sustainable Finance (ICSF). The ICSF was made up of member organisations such as Aberdeen Standard Investments, BlackRock, PGGM; and partner organisations such as BNY Mellon, J.P. Morgan and State Street. The paper, “Reinforcing Global Sustainable Finance by Improving Guidance on Securities Lending” (May 2020), was removed from the ISLA website in the aftermath of their abrupt dissolution of the ICSF.
The paper attracted quite a lot of interest when it came out, and had been picked up by several press outlets. More recent articles by accounting and law firms have also progressed this topic, so it is regrettable that they were unable to refer to our original paper, because it has been removed from public view.
Crucially, this paper became part of an evidence base for the European Commission consultation on renewed sustainable finance strategy.
At Global PSSL, we believe that the sustainable finance agenda must rely on authentic global collaboration, thoughtful analysis and increased transparency to be successful. Removing articles representing months of research only hinders this progress, including the achievements of such organisations as The Bank of England and The European Commission.
Having discussed this issue with the Global PSSL Secretariat and several advisors, we respectfully ask that ISLA reinstate this paper into the appropriate section of their website and apply tags that will identify it during relevant searches.
Dr Radek Stech
Founder and CEO
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For more details, please contact Dr Stech: radek.stech@gpssl.org and/or Ela Slota, Executive Assistant at press@gpssl.org
About Global PSSL
The Global Principles for Sustainable Securities Lending (Global PSSL) is the fundamental global mechanism for aligning securities lending with sustainable finance. This voluntary initiative has been developed through years of research based engagement between Dr Radek Stech, representing the SFLS Network at Exeter Law School, prominent beneficial owners and several agent lenders and other stakeholders committed to positive change.
In order to preserve its impartiality, the Global PSSL framework is based within its own independent community interest company, led by Dr Stech.
