The International Capital Market Association (ICMA)’s European Repo and Collateral Council (ERCC) has published two sets of proposed best practices for wider market consultation, covering ad hoc bilateral netting or ‘pair-offs’, and error trades. ICMA is keen to hear feedback on both sets of guidance.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has shared a report with the Bank of England (BoE) outlining recommendations to enhance gilt repo market resilience, following a closed-door roundtable held on 17 March 2026. The recommendations include improved supervisory oversight of leveraged investor strategies, a joint stocktake of regulatory reporting frameworks between BoE and the Financial Conduct Authority, improved non-bank access to central clearing, broader collateral eligibility frameworks and enhancements to settlement efficiency and operational resilience. The report builds on ICMA's November 2025 response to BoE's gilt repo consultation.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has submitted a response to the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC)'s Notice of Request for Exemptive Relief, expressing support in principle for exempting certain non-US transactions from the Trade Submission Requirement. It stated that the proposed relief would mitigate unintended extraterritorial effects of the US Treasury clearing mandate by excluding offshore transactions between non-US counterparties with no US nexus, thereby reducing legal uncertainty, operational complexity and compliance burdens, while supporting continued international participation in US Treasury markets. ICMA noted concerns from some market participants about potential competitive disparities, particularly for non-US branches and subsidiaries of US firms that would remain in scope, and suggested that the SEC consider possible mitigants and monitor the application of the exemption.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has published its 48th European Repo Market Survey showing the first market contraction since June 2020, with total outstanding value falling 2.3% year-on-year to €10.8trn in December 2024. The survey, covering 61 market participants, identified a shift in balance sheet allocation from Europe to the US, with increased demand for US Dollars and Treasuries reaching record levels. The transition from quantitative easing to tightening has particularly affected specific collateral trading, while core eurozone bonds experienced reduced investor interest.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has published an updated version of its European Repo and Collateral Council (ERCC) guide to best practice in the European repo market. This comprehensive update introduces new guidance across several critical areas, including: trading infrastructure resilience; central securities depository outage management; template agreement for bilateral pair-offs; sanctions compliance and; automated trading systems operations. The update also addresses emerging market developments with provisions for liability-driven investment pension fund repo portfolio transfers and buy-outs.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has published its update to the Recommendations for Reporting under the SFT Regulation (SFTR). The latest version provides new guidance on reporting sponsored repo transactions, variable-rate repos, fixed-term interest payments, and clarifies reporting obligations for foreign branches in the UK.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA), in conjunction with the Executive Committee for Principles, has released its updated edition of the Guidance Handbook which explores three new questions about the Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLBs) including: the treatment of SLBs in sustainable finance disclosure and labelling regimes, alignment of an SLB in relation to updated corporate-level sustainability strategy targets and disclosures, plus guidance on key performance indicators selection in establishing SLB Principle alignment.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has updated its recommendations for reporting under the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR). This latest update introduces four new questions and further updates, reflecting recent regulatory developments as well as the ongoing discussions with reporting firms.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has updated its Secondary Market Rules & Recommendations (the Rules) applicable to all transactions conducted by members as buyer or seller, in either a principal or agency capacity in international securities. The Rules cover a range of secondary market practices, including calculating coupon accruals, trading defaulted securities and the process for issuing and executing buy-ins. Its latest version comprises of recently approved best practice recommendations to support settlement efficiency and the 2017 revisions to the Buy-in and Sell-out Rules.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has expressed its support of the European Central Bank's (ECB) decision to expand its initiative to settle transactions using distributed ledger technology (DLT) in central bank money, announced on 20 February 2025. This move by the ECB is seen as a significant step forward in the integration of DLT within the financial sector, a development that ICMA and its DLT Bonds Working Group have advocated for. ICMA has consistently highlighted the critical importance of implementing a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) or a DLT-based central bank money settlement solution and believes that the benefits of such a solution include enhanced automation, reduced costs and fragmentation, improved securities settlement, reduced settlement fails and risk, increased attractiveness of capital markets, and better funding for the real economy.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) welcomed the publication by the EU T+1 Industry Committee of guidance setting out frequently asked questions and best practice for the proposed Gating Event, a new settlement functionality designed to support the transition to T+1 settlement in October 2027. ICMA co-led the drafting of the guidance on behalf of the Industry Committee, working with market participants, market infrastructures and regulators. The guidance explains that the Gating Event will allow flagged settlement instructions to be automatically released at 11:00 CET on their intended settlement date, enabling settlement optimisation tools, including technical netting, to help address potential increases in T+0 repo activity, reduce intraday liquidity pressures and improve settlement efficiency. It states that the functionality is intended primarily for T+0 repo transactions and related fixed-income cash market transactions, sets out best practice on its use, and explains where it should not be used to avoid settlement disruption. ICMA said the guidance provides greater clarity for market participants ahead of the October 2027 implementation of T+1 settlement, with further implementation, testing and market readiness work to continue throughout 2026–27.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has welcomed the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (HKSAR Government)'s offering of digital green bonds which is in alignment with the ICMA's Bond Data Taxonomy (BDT). HKSAR Government's issuance of the digital green bonds marks the first adoption of ICMA’s BDT and green bond by a sovereign, supranational and agency (SSA) issuer. This adoption lays the foundation for streamlining operational processes where bond information is stored and exchanged between different parties not only at issuance, but also during the bond’s lifecycle.