Keren Halperin, Deputy CEO & Chief of Staff

1. The room has voted: retail is the one to watch

On the final morning of the ISLA conference, we asked the room what will most change supply dynamics in securities lending over the next three to five years. The mobilisation of securities held by retail investors came out on top. The interesting part? Even the Middle East, another of the options on the board, is a story being driven by retail. Whichever way you cut it, the answer was retail. That’s not a trend anymore. It’s a verdict.

2. The debate has moved from “if” to “how”

For years the retail conversation was “will this take off?” This year, on a panel spanning every seat in the market, nobody argued whether retail belongs. It’s no longer marginal supply, it’s inventory the market relies on. Progress, in my book, is when the side conversation becomes the mainstream one – when the bold view becomes plain vanilla. The questions now are about consistency, investor protection and scale.

3. New markets won’t just catch up – they’ll leapfrog us

The MENA and LatAm session flipped the usual assumption. These markets aren’t trailing behind; in many ways they’re arriving ahead, skipping the legacy steps we’re still untangling, with investors who expect speed and automation from day one. The advantage of starting late is you don’t carry anyone else’s baggage.

4. AI’s real test isn’t efficiency, it’s accountability

Everyone agrees AI is moving from talk to deployment. Fewer will say the uncomfortable part: done badly, automation doesn’t cut risk, it hides it. Speed is one thing. Accountability is another – knowing what to automate, what to keep human, and standing behind the result either way. Even the most automated process still needs someone who understands what sits underneath it.

5. Supply is only step one

Right now, retail is talked about purely as supply. There will be a day, not far away at all, that these investors start borrowing too. Then, retail becomes both sides of the trade, and that’s when this market really grows. The room voted retail the biggest change coming to supply. I think they were being modest.

Already counting down to ISLA 2027. Something tells me it’s going to be a big one. See you there 😉