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The Big Interview: Martin Scheck

Tuesday 13 July 2010 - by Nicola York

 The International Capital Market Association chief executive talks to GFS about the sovereign debt crisis, the lack of harmonisation both in Europe and globally and what is most concerning ICMA members at present

International Capital Market Association chief executive Martin Scheck says there is a “tremendous amount” going on in the securities world at the moment, both on the primary and the secondary side of the market.

He fires off a list of directives that ICMA is working to respond on including Mifid, Prospectus, Basel II and the Capital Requirements Directive, as well as the more overarching supervisory architectural changes in the European Union.

Scheck says there are “so many moving parts” at the moment that ICMA is fully occupied in making sure it remains aware of timetables, consulting members in good time to get a response for the regulators. “If we can help to shape their thinking a little bit, I think that is a very good result when there is so much going on.”

ICMA was set up under the name Association of International Bond Dealers in February 1969 in Zurich. It is primarily focused on market practice across the primary and secondary securities markets and represents members’ interests in the regulatory space.

Its membership currently stands at 380 organisations encompassing issuers, intermediaries and investors.


Scheck says: “One of the strengths of ICMA is that we have a very diverse membership. We have members who are large global investment banks, we have large and small brokers, central banks, sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors, regional and national banks, a large group of private banks, some insurance companies and one or two hedge funds as members.
“The one thing they have all got in common is that they are all interested in the efficient working of the securities market, but there is no reason on earth why all of them should think exactly the same at the same time, and they do not.”

Scheck says that when opinions diverge, ICMA brings together people in a relatively neutral forum where they can have “an adult discussion”.

“At the end of that, we often reach a sensible consensus. And where we simply can’t reach a consensus, we are able to represent both points of view, but we know precisely what segments in the market are thinking. We also know why they are not agreeing and that adds a lot of value to the debate.”


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