# Looking Ahead To Casla Rndey

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[00:00:00.560] Hi, friends. Welcome back to another episode of Peer Connections, the podcast series brought
[00:00:08.440] to you by the Global Peer Financing Association, also known as GPFA. These podcasts offer our
[00:00:13.380] GPFA members and global beneficial owner friends a forum for information sharing and discussion
[00:00:18.180] on topics most important to them. And we hope you, our listeners, appreciate the insights,
[00:00:22.780] best practices, and transparency offered from our members and industry friends about securities,
[00:00:26.960] finance, or related investment areas. Now let's get into the episode.
[00:00:35.780] Welcome, everyone. My name is Chris Benesch. I'm a Senior Portfolio Manager here at the
[00:00:39.820] State of Wisconsin Investment Board. I'm also a board member of the Global Peer Financing
[00:00:43.620] Association and sometimes host of the GPFA podcast. We're here today to talk about the
[00:00:49.480] upcoming CASLA Conference, the Canadian Securities Lending Association. Their annual conference
[00:00:54.080] comes up at the beginning of June. I'm joined today by Mary-Jane Schuessler. She's a Managing
[00:00:58.500] Director of Equity Finance and Global Equity Products for BMO. She's also the President
[00:01:03.360] of CASLA and one of the three conference co-chairs. Mary-Jane, welcome. Thank you, Chris. Thank you so
[00:01:08.500] much for having me today. Maybe to start with, you could share with us a little bit about CASLA
[00:01:13.260] as an organization. Tell us a little bit about the association. Sure, yeah. So we were founded
[00:01:18.820] in 2009, and we were actually founded by mainly the lender base. So it was CIBC Mellon, Northern
[00:01:25.080] Trust, RBCIS, and State Street. And so the organization has evolved quite a bit from them
[00:01:31.380] as has the value chain, which makes it quite interesting. We've grown to about 25 member
[00:01:37.000] firms now, and then we have quite a few vendors that are also a part of the organization.
[00:01:41.880] And then we have a bunch of committees. CASA was created with a mission of ensuring long-term
[00:01:46.600] viability of the Canadian securities lending industry and by establishing a unified voice.
[00:01:52.280] That's great. And as president, what do you see as your role within the organization?
[00:01:56.140] So I'm really lucky because we have a board and there's seven of us right now,
[00:02:00.410] And everyone is very active. So although I have this quote unquote, president role or title, I really don't have to act in such a capacity. Everyone works really cohesively together. And we drive the agenda as a group, you know, we really manage by committee, and that's really been beneficial for us the whole time.
[00:02:19.110] We have certain board members will take ownership of certain aspects of the agenda items that we are trying to accomplish, whether it be regulatory, whether it be the conference, whether it be education.
[00:02:29.370] And so we really split those duties amongst the team.
[00:02:32.610] And given we are a non-for-profit and we're all volunteer, that's really been beneficial for us.
[00:02:37.930] Sounds like a really strong team.
[00:02:39.150] Now, I know as a beneficial owner, the CASA conference has been on my radar for a while.
[00:02:43.950] This is actually my first time coming to the conference.
[00:02:46.330] Maybe talk a little bit about the conference itself, how long you guys have been doing it, and maybe what you're looking forward to for this year's event.
[00:02:53.130] Sure, yeah.
[00:02:53.610] So this year is our 14th year running the conference.
[00:02:56.930] We do have a very high turnout to our panels.
[00:02:59.970] So although the networking and making those business relationships always really is kind of the foremost, most important thing for a lot of organizations, we do get a very good turnout to our panels.
[00:03:12.190] And so therefore, we concentrate a lot on that content and we try to make that content really beneficial to everyone that's there.
[00:03:19.490] I mean, there's a key point to the connecting with GPFA and making sure that the beneficial owner base is also extracting value out of what that content is.
[00:03:28.250] And a lot of it will be stuff they get to hear, whether it's a beneficial owner or whether
[00:03:32.450] it's an end user hedge fund or someone in the middle of the value chain, you're really
[00:03:37.110] hearing what impact that specific transaction and where either opportunities or challenges
[00:03:43.190] lie.
[00:03:44.570] That sounds great.
[00:03:45.070] I know I've looked through the agenda and it does look like a pretty solid lineup of
[00:03:48.930] panels and events.
[00:03:50.430] Maybe talk a little bit about who those beneficial owners are that come to this event.
[00:03:54.230] How many folks do you typically draw? What types of beneficial owners show up to CASLA?
[00:04:00.210] Sure, yeah. It's actually been quite a mix over the years. And since partnering with the GPFA
[00:04:05.310] last year and being able to host a session that we did at lunch last year, it's really definitely
[00:04:11.010] generated more interest amongst the beneficial owner community. We've also gone back and forth
[00:04:16.170] in terms of what we can provide for beneficial owners. This year, we're allowing no registration
[00:04:21.230] fee, which we've gotten a lot more interest, which is great. I mean, obviously expenses are
[00:04:26.050] difficult everywhere. So if we can bring in those beneficial owners and they can really understand
[00:04:31.730] a little bit more about securities lending, especially if they're a smaller one and maybe
[00:04:35.690] haven't been totally involved in transaction by transaction as to what happens, it really can be
[00:04:40.870] beneficial for them to learn about it. And then the larger pension plans, it's great for them too.
[00:04:46.130] You know, GPFA has grown immensely in the last couple of years, and I'm actually very impressed with their success in terms of, you know, the global reach that they have.
[00:04:55.350] And, you know, the value chain isn't what it used to be in terms of beneficial owner, custodian, broker, hedge fund.
[00:05:01.430] That value chain is completely upside down now, which creates a lot of opportunities for all of those involved in the value chain.
[00:05:08.470] So I think bringing them in to Casla and the mix, it's also a really great time for networking, whether they're looking at doing things themselves, expanding into different types of transactions, comparing with peers, works for them, works for brokers, works for the lenders.
[00:05:22.890] That's great. And I couldn't agree more. I think as a board member of GPFA, certainly the Canadian membership is a really important part of our association, right?
[00:05:31.910] We have some of our very engaged, very sophisticated programs up in Canada.
[00:05:36.670] And I think our global members really learn a lot from the Canadian members of the GPFA.
[00:05:42.210] So we're very excited to continue partnering with CASLA.
[00:05:44.990] And I know personally, I'm looking forward to the co-hosted lunchtime panel that we have,
[00:05:49.090] you know, just to bring some more by side voices to the table and hear what's on people's
[00:05:52.970] mind.
[00:05:53.650] When you think about that panel, maybe thinking about how it went last year, what you kind
[00:05:58.410] of hope to get out of it this year.
[00:06:00.290] What do you think attendees should be looking for out of that session in particular?
[00:06:04.130] Well, I always like the idea of breaking down barriers.
[00:06:07.130] And I know I've talked to Brooke about this and Rob from GPFA and really allowing the
[00:06:12.610] rest of that value chain that I talked about, understand the role of GPFA.
[00:06:17.630] I think they've done a good job in the last little while, especially through previous
[00:06:21.110] conferences to get that word out there.
[00:06:23.350] And that it really is more not born out of this peer-to-peer activity, more born out
[00:06:28.790] let's share information let's talk about processes let's talk about automation let's talk about
[00:06:33.170] vendors systems all of the above and i hope and think that those that are coming to the lunch
[00:06:38.930] session can get a better understanding of what they're tackling and if they can tackle those
[00:06:43.930] problems as a group i think we can do the same i mean i hate to mention it but t plus one is
[00:06:49.230] going to be a huge topic at this conference because it's directly after and so there's a
[00:06:54.770] great opportunity to say, okay, to a beneficial owner, how's it actually going for you? And are
[00:07:01.170] we as service providers also being able to get stock back and making sure that the whole value
[00:07:07.890] chain of that transaction between the sale happening and the recall happening and the return,
[00:07:12.810] is it working? So it's a great opportunity to be able to address that, look at that, and then
[00:07:17.050] benefit from what's working with others. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think coming just a week
[00:07:22.670] after the T plus one transition for North America there, I expect there'll be a lot of discussion
[00:07:26.930] about how that's going for everybody at the conference. So we've talked a little bit about
[00:07:31.090] T plus one as a topic. I think that's definitely going to be something folks are talking about.
[00:07:35.510] What else are you hearing from your membership and the folks that are coming to the conference?
[00:07:40.070] What questions are they asking or what themes are you keen to address through some of these
[00:07:44.050] sessions at the conference? Yeah, I mean, I think revenue, revenue generation is always
[00:07:48.990] top of everybody's mind. So there'll definitely be questions around that. And then, you know,
[00:07:53.150] hand in hand with that is always hurdles and the obstacles to driving that revenue. And so I think
[00:07:57.730] a lot of time, unfortunately, does get spent or fortunately on those hurdles. And so a lot of
[00:08:02.670] times those hurdles might be regulatory. And so there'll definitely be a piece and, you know,
[00:08:06.790] quite a bit on the regulatory landscape, whether it's Basel 3 endgame, whether it's the 10C1
[00:08:11.310] reporting, which is more operational. CERO came out with some proposed new guidelines for fully
[00:08:16.390] paid lending. That's another piece. There's quite a bit there that impacts either whether it's a
[00:08:20.930] hurdle or an opportunity when it comes to revenue generation. And then the other thing to mention
[00:08:25.210] is just infrastructure in general. So whether that's tri-party, the vendor base, automation,
[00:08:30.830] all of that is topical for everybody to hear. It can also drive revenue at the end of the day. So
[00:08:36.430] that's another key piece that I believe the audience will be looking for.
[00:08:40.370] Sounds great. It sounds like it's going to be a really packed agenda. Looking forward to it.
[00:08:43.830] So as I said previously, the GPFA really appreciates the partnership we have with CASLA.
[00:08:48.670] I think these in-person events and gathering at these conferences is important for the
[00:08:53.770] industry, for our membership, and it's nice to be able to gather in conjunction with a
[00:08:58.690] conference like CASLA.
[00:08:59.790] We actually, for our membership, the folks that are coming to Toronto that week already
[00:09:04.930] know we have a three-hour closed-door beneficial owner-only session that precedes the conference,
[00:09:10.390] And it gives our members a chance to get together, have some general discussion on a variety of topics that we hope give some deeper context for the next day's conference that CASLA will be hosting.
[00:09:21.390] In addition, we have Tony Gravel, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, who's going to join us at that closed door for a Q&A session.
[00:09:27.230] And these events really do allow our members to continue to come together to network and share ideas across our member base.
[00:09:33.010] And like I said, I think it'll provide some good background info for the really full agenda that you guys are providing through CASLA.
[00:09:40.030] That's great.
[00:09:40.550] Yeah, I think that'll be wonderful for you guys.
[00:09:42.350] I should also mention, we always have a keynote speaker, and we've gone all over the map in
[00:09:46.850] terms of who we've had, whether it be a politician, an athlete, or a comedian.
[00:09:51.510] It's been great, and a great way to keep everyone in the room also.
[00:09:55.750] And who will be the keynote speaker for this year?
[00:09:57.990] So this year, it's John Herdman.
[00:09:59.430] He's the head coach of Toronto FC, which is the soccer team here in Toronto.
[00:10:04.630] What is amazing, I mean, I don't want to steal any of his thunder and what he presents, but
[00:10:08.730] He really changed soccer for Canada, and he led the women's team to gold at the Olympics.
[00:10:14.630] So he's got a great story.
[00:10:16.290] Well, that sounds inspiring.
[00:10:17.370] Can't wait to hear what he has to say.
[00:10:19.030] So finally, MJ, for those of us who aren't from Toronto and might be visiting, actually,
[00:10:24.030] it'll be my first time visiting, any suggestions or must-visit sites while we're there in town?
[00:10:28.810] Oh, that's a great question.
[00:10:30.750] The list is long.
[00:10:32.290] I would have to say the restaurant scene is amazing.
[00:10:36.290] So it is one of the most multicultural cities in the world.
[00:10:39.770] And as a result of that, the restaurant scene is phenomenal.
[00:10:43.090] And we have so many different little neighborhoods.
[00:10:45.350] And that's my favorite thing is just discovering the new little neighborhoods, whether it's
[00:10:49.590] little Italy, little Portugal, Chinatown, wherever you go, you'll find something interesting
[00:10:54.230] and something new.
[00:10:55.130] So I would say if you could spare some time, get out there and check out one of those
[00:10:59.110] neighborhoods or distillery Dristick.
[00:11:01.550] And I hate to be cliche, but I even like going up to CN Tower because it's a beautiful view.
[00:11:06.290] Sounds great. Yeah, looking forward to that visit. Well, Mary Jane, thank you so much for joining us
[00:11:11.530] today. We're looking forward to the CASLA conference coming up here at the beginning of
[00:11:15.250] June. And I will see you next in Toronto. Awesome. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you
[00:11:19.770] for your partnership. And thanks for today. Thanks for listening to another episode of
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