Already a member? Attendees: Sabrina Fox, Omar Mostafa, Jacqui Chao Healy, Teo Lasarte, Tom Bainbridge, Peter Aspbury, Saul Casadio, and Laura Gledhill
Topics of discussion and next steps:
1.Members’ forum, quarterly, on covenant trends with Reorg (Sabrina, Omar; Tom to assist)
– Members’ forum is a legitimate option for trade associations to discuss issues facing the industry. The purpose of the forum is to educate and share best practices for members to take away and decide.
– In the context of financial covenants, members can discuss general terms, trends, practices and problematic elements without getting granular or specific on live transactions such as to affect competition.
– To ensure anti-trust compliance, we need to identify topics that can be legitimately discussed, set out an agenda, have a code of conduct stating the dos and don’ts, keep an accurate record of meetings for compliance, and invite a lawyer who is sensitized to antitrust issues.
Action points: Sabrina will liaise with Reorg on potential events.
2. Regulatory lobbying (Peter, Laura; Tom to assist)
– Regulators share a number of the concerns that investors have around dilution of covenants. Involving regulators in the conversation provides comfort that it is not going to be sanctioned under anti-trust laws.
– It has been suggested that ELFA should approach the BoE and the FCA to highlight the issues. The aim is to get them to encourage and sponsor cooperation amongst investors.
– For example, the FCA has power to conduct market studies, as a result of its findings it can make certain recommendations on these issues. The BoE will also be interested from a macro-prudential angle.
Action points (Sabrina): Peter, Laura, and Tom to discuss next steps
3.Antitrust seminar with Tom (Omar, Tom)
– Tom has suggested hosting an antitrust training session for those members that wish to attend.
– This would cover key antitrust issues to bear in mind, generally and in the context of a trade association such as ELFA. It would also include scenarios for discussion, to put the issues in context.
– This could also include particular points requested by members.
Action points (Sabrina): Tom and Omar to discuss next steps