A joint study from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (Iosco) recently noted: 'Securities lending has become a central part of securities market activity in recent years, to the point where the daily volume of securities transactions for financing purposes considerably exceeds that of outright purchase and sale transactions.'

As securities finance activity plays such an increasingly important role in global markets, remaining clearing and settlement issues surrounding it are commensurately growing in urgency.