The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) European Repo and Collateral Committee (ERCC) has published its 2023-year end analysis of how the repo market performed. The report reveals that the 2023 turn proved to be relatively unexceptional in comparison to previous year-ends. This calmness is attributed to: a decrease in the level of excess reserves; an increase in the supply of government bonds; general deleveraging and a lack of positioning by hedge funds; the collapse in the EUR-USD FX basis; and reduced pressure on bank intermediation arising from various regulatory reporting requirements.

The International Capital Market Association's (ICMA) European Repo and Collateral Committee (ERCC) has published its annual assessment of the repo market's performance over the 2024 year-end. The report highlights a deviation from previous years, with repo rates initially priced at a premium to benchmark rates, as opposed to the usual deep discount and raises concerns regarding pressure on globally systematically important banks due to increased prime brokerage demand following the US elections for accurate prediction and management.

The Executive Committee of the Green, Social, Sustainability, and Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles, supported by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), has published new Climate Transition Bond guidelines that introduce the Climate Transition Bond as a standalone label for use-of-proceeds bonds. These guidelines define and establish safeguards for Climate Transition Projects, complementing and extending the existing Green Bond Principles to address decarbonisation challenges in line with the Paris Agreement. In addition, ICMA has released an updated Climate Transition Finance Handbook. The revised handbook includes a new annex that details transition-plan frameworks and assessment methodologies, providing valuable insights for the US$6trn sustainable bond market.

The International Capital Markets Association has updated its Primary Market Handbook with amendments to Appendix A8, A13 and A16, new Appendix A12a on product governance language and changes to references to the Prospectus Directive, the Market Abuse Directive and the EEA.

The Executive Committee of the Green, Social, Sustainability and Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles (the Principles), supported by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), published new guidance. The main publication, ‘Sustainable Bonds for Nature: A Practitioner's Guide’, provides the framework for nature-related bond issuance across both public and private sectors. The Committee also released updates to existing guidance including: revised Green Bond Principles, new checklists for green enabling projects, expanded key performance indicators and consolidated allocation reporting guidance. The Principles serve as voluntary standards for the US$6trn sustainable bond market and are referenced by 98% of sustainable bond issuers.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA)’s Secondary Market Practices Committee (SMPC) has published its second semi-annual report, providing detailed data on EU and UK bond market trading activity.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) Secondary Market Practices Committee (SMPC) has published its semi-annual report that provides detailed data on the aggregated bond market data as reported under the MiFID II/MiFIR obligation. This report provides 36 months of bond market data, covering the period January 2022 through to December 2024.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has published the amendments to Appendix A1 Agreement Among Managers (Versions 1 and 2)—amending pages A1-28 and A1-29 of Part 5A Version 1—Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) subscription agreement of its Primary Market Handbook. The associated circular is available on ICMA's website to members and Handbook subscribers only.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) have jointly published a template non-disclosure agreement for investment grade and sub-investment grade bond offerings, high-yield and leveraged finance transactions, as well as other capital markets transactions. The template is designed to reduce the time-consuming and costly negotiations that often occur when parties exchange and use confidential information in transactions.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and commenced a joint initiative to develop a global standardised documentation framework for Shari'ah-compliant repurchase agreements. The project, titled the IIFM/ICMA Islamic Repo (I'aadat Al Shira'a) Master Agreement, aims to address liquidity management challenges in Islamic finance by replacing fragmented practices with unified operational standards. The collaboration will draw on ICMA's experience with the Global Master Repurchase Agreement and IIFM's expertise in Shari'ah-compliant market standards. Yusuf Battiwala, a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, has been appointed as legal counsel to the project. The finalised standards are expected to be accompanied by an explanatory memorandum to assist market participants with implementation.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) have submitted responses to the Eurosystem's consultation on the Appia roadmap, a strategic initiative to develop a European tokenised financial ecosystem. ICMA's response, submitted on 21 April 2026, supports the proposed high-level principles while recommending additional principles including interoperability, standardisation and proportionality. ICMA emphasises that international interoperability is critical given the global nature of financial markets and advocates for multiple interoperable networks operating under harmonised standards rather than a single Eurosystem-operated network. ISDA's response, submitted on 22 April 2026, broadly supports the roadmap but recommends expanding the market access and integration principle to explicitly address interoperability with tokenised ecosystems in other jurisdictions. Both organisations stress the importance of adopting common standards, particularly the open-source Common Domain Model, to facilitate interoperability and prevent market fragmentation. The responses reflect views from across the international debt capital markets value chain including issuers, banks, investors and market infrastructures.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA), together with the International Securities Lending Association (ISLA), have published the Digital Assets Annex, a new addition to the Global Master Repurchase Agreement (GMRA). This project aims to provide a standardised framework and bring consistency to the legal terms used by market participants when trading particular digital assets under the GMRA 2011 and the Global Master Securities Lending Agreement (GMSLA) 2010.