December 2009
CIBC Mellon scores big on ISF survey: An interview with James Slater
CIBC Mellon was recently awarded the coveted position as #1 in delivering securities lending service over the past year, according to International Securities Finance (ISF) magazine’s 2009 Equity Lending Survey.
This is a significant accomplishment for CIBC Mellon. The global securities borrowers who chose CIBC Mellon as #1 directly participate in the securities lending industry and have experienced front and centre the ups and downs that the capital markets have gone through during the past year.
The editorial board chair for Trade Talk, David Bauer, discussed this ranking and how CIBC Mellon’s securities lending client service approach contributed to this success with James Slater, senior vice president and head of capital markets at CIBC Mellon.
How much of an achievement is this for CIBC Mellon?
This is a huge achievement for CIBC Mellon. The past year has been extremely challenging for all participants in the securities lending industry, including agent lenders. With the Lehman Brothers default in September 2008 and the regulatory action that followed in Canada and the U.S., securities lending participants experienced, in my opinion, the highest level of uncertainty in the industry’s history.
We were well positioned and well prepared to handle these unprecedented events. Our people performed extremely well, our contractual arrangements worked as designed and our systems and infrastructure stood the test. We continued to provide our securities lending clients with a high level of confidence.
I believe the evidence speaks for itself, as CIBC Mellon was ranked # 1 in delivering securities lending service globally. We ranked higher than some truly large-scale global players including State Street, JP Morgan and Northern Trust.
We are truly honoured to receive this recognition from securities borrowers from around the world.
What factors contributed to CIBC Mellon’s success during this challenging time?
I think it’s a combination of factors: the very talented people we have in our organization, our client focus and commitment to client service excellence, and our strong governance model. Each of these aspects has served us extremely well over the last 18 months or so.
We also really ramped up communication with our clients during this challenging period, we were transparent and we kept our clients in the loop consistently.
Perhaps most importantly, we were prepared, and our risk management process and governance performed as they were designed.
How did this experience help CIBC Mellon deliver the #1 securities lending service in the industry?
Well, to be honest I believe that we were always capable of topping this category in the ISF survey. We came through in a time of great uncertainty, which set us on centre stage, and our fundamental principles put us at the front of the pack.
Experiencing the challenges over the past year has really enabled us to fine-tune our client service approach and to develop customized approaches that work for our clients.
We are very thankful for the recognition that we received from the ISF survey respondents, and we look forward to building on this in the years to come.
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Trade Talk® is provided for general information purposes only and CIBC Mellon Global Securities Services Company, CIBC Mellon Trust Company, CIBC, The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation and their affiliates make no representations or warranties as to its accuracy or completeness. Readers should be aware the content of this publication should not be regarded as legal, tax, accounting, investment, financial or other professional advice nor is it intended for such use.
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