Both organisations believe that agreeing on a universal business definition and utilising the FIX Protocol as a common message standard will increase efficiency and facilitate straight-through-processing.

The organisations will jointly form a Securities Lending and Borrowing Working Group (SLBWG) to share market expertise and collaborate strategically on the project. In the first phase of the initiative, FPL and SASLA will work together to produce guidelines that maintain the integrity of the message structure and to document industry practices to ensure seamless implementation by market participants. A gap analysis will serve as the basis for future developments in the processing of securities lending and borrowing transactions on a global level.

The second phase of the initiative will entail an in-depth review of product coverage and end-to-end processes of the securities lending and borrowing (SLB) transaction lifecycle. The expected results of the project are an increase in transaction transparency and a decrease of operational risk and costs.

"We are pleased to collaborate with SASLA to develop and implement a common protocol for the automation of SLB transactions," stated Gavin Borrageiro, Co-Chair of the EMEA Southern Africa Executive Committee, FPL.

"Collaborating with a global standards organisation like FPL will guarantee that SASLA is able to deliver the best solution for the industry," commented Belinda Kasch, Executive Committee Member, SASLA.