Global Peer Financing Association

The Global Peer Financing Association (GPFA) is a non-profit industry association with over 35 global asset owners, representing over $11 trillion in assets. Our members are engaged in a variety of securities finance and investment activities and share a goal to promote best practices and knowledge sharing through wide-ranging discussions on timely, relevant investment topics. GPFA brings together members with the goal of encouraging the development of a more effective and transparent marketplace for securities financing activities, liquidity management and collateral management.

Explore our site to learn more and find ways that your organization can join the conversation.

About

GPFA is a volunteer led organization that has grown organically as a place for like-minded sophisticated asset owners to gather to discuss best practices, seek education on important industry topics, and share experiences related to the securities finance industry and other investment disciplines.

GPFA brings together beneficial owner members with the goal of encouraging the development of a more effective and transparent marketplace for securities financing activities, liquidity management and collateral management. We strive to be a global voice for beneficial owners and a forum for asset owners to share best practices.

GPFA started around a common opportunity in the market, which was to promote education and adoption of peer-to-peer trading in our marketplace. GPFA quickly expanded far beyond this original topic and is a forum for beneficial owners to network, seek education on industry topics, discuss best practices, and advocate for industry advancements supporting beneficial owner interests. GPFA hosts quarterly member meetings and group meetings on specific topics. Meetings and agendas are member-led and span a wide range of topics related to securities lending, repo, collateral management, financing and leverage, or broader treasury management functions.

History

Since 2014 formally, and for years prior on an informal basis, a group of leading US and Canadian pension funds met annually or bi-annually in a trusted peer environment to discuss securities financing activities. These meetings started as a forum to share information and market experiences to improve and enhance securities lending and financing practices. Over time, like-minded peers recognized that the landscape of the securities financing market was evolving as beneficial owners increasingly turned to one another to supplement trade opportunities with traditional counterparties. As the working group progressed and evolved, other global beneficial owners expressed interest in learning about how others engaged in the securities finance marketplace.

GPFA was officially incorporated as a business association in 2020 by four leading pension plans - California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS), and State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) along with support from eSecLending, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and Credit Benchmark. We are a non-profit business association with over 35 global asset owners representing over $11 trillion in assets. Although the initial founding members are all pension funds, GPFA represents all global asset owner types to include pensions, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, and asset management businesses. The GPFA continues to grow its membership of buy-side institutional investors across all global regions.

What we do

When global beneficial owners come together good things happen. The GPFA endeavors to be a central collection point for the global buy-side community. We originally formed to create a more efficient way of engaging in peer-to-peer securities finance transactions, but quickly realized that this is only part of the benefit to our members. Below are a few examples of how we engage with our members. Check out the Join section to see how your organization can join the conversations.

We provide a forum to exchange information about various industry topics.
We learn from one another by sharing best practices and lessons learned.
We come together to challenge and shape best practices in our industry.
We support collaboration between beneficial owners and their partners (agent lenders, broker/dealers, custodians, etc.)
We connect functions within our member organizations to global colleagues through targeted discussions and working groups (i.e. legal, compliance, risk, operations, etc.)
GPFA is always looking for ways to better serve the beneficial owner community – we welcome input on meeting topics/discussions.
In the future, GPFA intends to use the collective voice of our global asset owner community to advocate for market change and engage with regulatory bodies interested in better understanding the impact of policy on asset owners and beneficiaries.

Who We Are

GPFA is a volunteer lead non-profit business association, and we rely upon the generous time of our Board members, leaders, and member organizations and representatives to progress topics for the benefit of the buy-side community in securities finance.

Founding Members and Board Representation

California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS)
Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)
State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)
Ohio Public Employee Retirement System (OPERS)

Founding Supporters and Sponsors

eSecLending
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Credit Benchmark

GPFA’s Leadership

GPFA is led by a group of volunteers offering their time and expertise to support the Association’s mission to offer education, advocacy, networking, and sharing of best practices amongst global beneficial owner organizations engaged in the securities finance marketplace.