ICMA Quarterly Briefing, Q3 2025: ICMA BMLT: The European investment grade corporate bond market

Listen now to the podcast from the Asset Management and Investors Council (AMIC), ICMA's dedicated forum advocating the interests of buy-side members, including asset managers, institutional investors, private banks, pension funds, and insurance companies, among others. Returning for this episode are industry experts, Bob Parker, former Chairman of AMIC and Senior Adviser to ICMA, alongside Massimiliano Castelli, PhD MSc, Managing Director and Head of Strategy & Advice at UBS Asset Management, who also serves as the Co-Chair of the AMIC Executive Committee. In this podcast, recorded on 21st August 2025, the team discussed: Geopolitical and Geoeconomic issues: what do we mean by that, and what is the impact for investors? What are the current major geopolitical risks investors should be aware of? Traditional safe-haven assets: what are they, and what might investors want to consider? If you have questions or topics that you would like our guests to address in future episodes, please feel free to get in contact via email: [email protected]. Learn more about AMIC: https://www.icmagroup.org/market-practice-and-regulatory-policy/asset-management/

In this podcast from the Asset Management and Investors Council (AMIC), recorded on 15th July 2025, Bob Parker and Massimiliano Castelli discussed: Highlights of the recently published UBS Annual Reserve Manager Survey New tariffs imposed by Trump and how it will evolve Growth and inflation The stability of bond market Equity markets showing strong recoveries AMIC is ICMA's dedicated forum advocating the interests of buy-side members, including asset managers, institutional investors, private banks, pension funds, and insurance companies, among others. If you have questions or topics that you would like our guests to address in future episodes, please feel free to get in contact via email: [email protected]. Speakers: Bob Parker is former Chairman of AMIC and Senior Adviser to ICMA. Massimiliano Castelli, PhD MSc, is Managing Director and Head of Strategy & Advice at UBS Asset Management and Co-Chair of the AMIC Executive Committee. Learn more about the work of AMIC here: https://www.icmagroup.org/market-practice-and-regulatory-policy/asset-management/  

Nina Suhaib-Wolf, Director, Market Practice and Regulatory Policy, gives an update on the EU/UK MiFID and its timeline.

Miriam Patterson, Senior Director, Market Practice and Regulatory Policy, discusses ICMA’s engagement with the EU Savings and Investment Union: securitisation aspects.

Irene Rey, Associate Director, Market Practice and Regulatory Policy, provides a summary of ICMA's position paper on Non Bank Financial Intermediaries (NBFI).

Alexander Westphal, Senior Director, Market Practice and Regulatory Policy, gives an update on T+1 and SFTs.

Andy Hill, Managing Director, Co-Head of Market Practice & Regulatory Policy, discusses the ongoing work of the Bond Market Liquidity Taskforce (BMLT), focusing on the European investment grade corporate bond market.

Gabriel Callsen, Senior Director, FinTech and Digitalisation, gives an update on ICMA’s engagement with innovation and tokenisation in capital markets, focusing on contributions to the European Commission’s Savings and Investment Union consultation.

Ruari Ewing, Senior Director, Market Practice and Regulatory Policy, ICMA, narrates ICMA’s response to the European Commission’s SIU consultation questions on issuance (including PRIIPs).  

Armin Peter, ICMA Consultant, speaks about the work of ICMA’s Primary Market Innovation Project, which engaged over 150 stakeholders to chart a path for evolutionary change in capital markets.