Summer in the ISITC Europe Camp

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Summer in the ISITC Europe Camp

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The Indian summer for product classificationsLondon, 28th July 2016

As we all head off for well-earned rest and relaxation breaks with family and loved ones, I wanted to provide an update to you of activities, plans and events to book into your calendars when you return. I also wanted to provide you all with an opportunity to contact me should you feel you can add to the ISITC Europe plans and momentum.

Strategy Update

As I mentioned in the first Quarter, the essence of the ISITC Europe strategy for 2016 was to provide a level of value for members and non-members alike by providing topics for investigation through an easy to reach corporate governance structure and set of operating workstreams. We also set a flat annual joining fee of £250 + VAT for those who would like to commit capital to the initiative for longevity.

I am pleased to advise that at the last count we have over 30 fully paid members of ISITC Europe. This is a 50% increase on the total membership in 2015. I can also report that we have held successful meetings in all but one of the working groups with the Distributed Ledger Technology group (formerly Blockchain) attracting over 100 members to its LinkedIn group under Gary Wright. The Regulation group now meets regularly with, as you can imagine, a full agenda of items as well as liaising across other ISITC Europe groups. The Standards working group has been asked to reach out to SWIFT and ISITC North America as well as the Hyperledger group to gain a cross section of standards issues to move forward.

I am also excited by the fact that ISITC Europe is starting to be canvassed for opinions from regulatory and market entities. IOSCO and ESMA has reached out to the DLT group and also in addition our Industry Collaboration group under Matt Johnson is working with a number of industry groups to lead discussions on CSDR.

I do have an opening for a leader of the Cybersecurity working group and would welcome a nomination from the industry to run.   Please also remember that working group leaders gain access to the IELG (ISITC Europe Leadership Group) and participate in driving our agenda with me and the other leads.

A snapshot by type of Member institution is below:

Custodians                       4
Vendors                           12
Fund Managers                7
Universities                      3

As you can see we have a new branch of membership called Universities. We have actively reached out to a number of business school universities to enrich the extended membership community with access to research and academia, whilst providing the universities with access to extensive technology and business skills within ISITC Europe. ISITC Europe funds the membership of the universities through an education fund. We have recently asked one of the Professors to join the IELG as a 12 month guest on a rotating basis shared with the other member universities.

Events

As we promised in the strategy set earlier this year, we plan to run three events annually (two General Meetings and  AGM). Following our very successful event in April, we will be holding our next General Meeting in October. We will be sending out further details and the agenda nearer the time.

Lastly I am planning to hold our AGM as soon after the New Year as possible. I am looking to have key note speakers and a professional location as well as networking opportunities. I have been approached by a number of members to see whether they can provide sponsorship. I am pleased to advise that this was approved by the IELG earlier this month and we will be sending out details of the sponsorship opportunities in due course.

So, we have progressed extremely well over the first seven months of 2016 and I believe there is more to come. If you are looking to have a vacation in the coming weeks, please enjoy and look out for notifications for the General Meeting as well as the AGM.

Many thanks for all your support.
Nigel

ISITC Europe Press Contacts

Nigel D Solkhon

CEO ISITC Europe

nigel.solkhon@isitc-europe.com
Direct Dial: +44 (0)207 508 9215
Mobile: +44 (0)7920 855156

Dee Radford

Secretariat ISITC Europe
admin@isitc-europe.com

About ISITC

ISITC Europe is a not-for-profit trade association, with members from across the spectrum of financial services organisations, including investment managers, brokers, custodians, service providers, solutions providers and individuals.