BlackRock’s iShares team has brought in Matthew Fowles to a new role which was created to focus exclusively on enhancing the securities lending ecosystem so that ETFs can become a mainstream asset in the marketplace. 

Fowles reports to Andrew Jamieson, head of the broker dealer and client execution sales teams for iShares in Emea, whom Fowles also reported to at JPMorgan.

“Adding Matt is a strong indication of how seriously we are taking this opportunity of ETF unit lending and collateral acceptability,"said Jamieson.

"For us it is a significant project and key focus to enhance the trading ecosystem. We are seeing a growing adoption of ETFs as financial instruments and enhancing ETF lending is integral to success.”

Fowles joins from JPMorgan where he spent the previous 15 years heading the collateral financing group within equity finance. 

Blackrock's iShares team say this experience will be invaluable for his new task of addressing the challenge to make ETFs more acceptable as eligible collateral and improve market processes.