Global law firm Ashurst has been appointed by the International Securities Lending Association (ISLA), a leading industry trade association representing the common interests of securities lending and financing market participants across EMEA, to provide preliminary analysis on the Global Master Securities Lending Agreement (GMSLA) within the digital asset landscape.
Analysis will look at key provisional changes to both the Title Transfer and Security Interest over Collateral ('Pledge') frameworks, including opinions, of the GMSLA that may need to be extended, added, or changed to cater for digital assets: tokenised traditional assets, native digital securities, and forms of digital cash. This work will allow for in-depth legal analysis with members, with regards to the GMSLA frameworks, through the ISLA Legal Steering Group and ISLA Digital Asset Working Groups.
The Association continues to focus on several key digital and standardisation efforts across Europe with its members, this collaboration is a key step for ISLA in ensuring that standard master agreements are available to members who wish to enter the institutional digital asset space, and part of our overall digital strategy.
David Shone, Director of Market Infrastructure & Technology at ISLA, said: "Digital assets and tokenisation are areas that are increasingly important to our members; offering new business opportunities, new solutions to locked-up liquidity issues, and new methods of risk reduction. The appointment of Ashurst to help chart our way through this landscape, ensures that the GMSLA agreements published by ISLA and used for securities lending activity globally, are able to support our membership's ability to leverage these new opportunities. This is a key component in ISLA's digital strategy and supports our ongoing mandate to establish standards for the Securities Finance industry."
Daniel Franks, derivatives partner at Ashurst, said "We are delighted to have been appointed by ISLA. It is a perfect example of how we can bring together our digital expertise and our product expertise in the securities financing space."
Etay Katz, finance regulatory partner at Ashurst, added: "This is a momentous junction of change for the industry, and our appointment further solidifies Ashurst's reputation and standing as a global law firm of choice advising on Digital Assets transformation in global financial markets."
The Ashurst team is co-led by partners Daniel Franks and Etay Katz, Ashurst's Digital Assets practice lead and co-chair of the Bank Industry sector at the firm. Partner and Chief Digital Officer Tara Waters and financial regulatory counsel Sidika Ulker will also be involved, supported by associate Umah Kathirgamathamby.
