Since the early 1990s, ICMA has played a significant role in promoting the interests and activities of the international repo market, and of the product itself.

Through the promulgation of the Global Master Repurchase Agreement (GMRA), which has become the standard in the international market, ICMA was instrumental in the creation of sound legal documentation for the international repo market.

To address the ongoing needs of its members active in this market, ICMA also created a special interest committee within the framework of ICMA's council of reporting dealers (CRD), the CRD repo sub-committee. This sub-committee made a significant contribution towards promoting repo as a product and guiding the development of the market through its evolving trading practices.

When the pace of change in the European repo market - particularly evident towards the latter part of the 1990s - signalled a desirability for ICMA's repo dealing community to have its own and separate framework in ICMA's Rule Book, ICMA's board decided, in December 1999, that the CRD repo sub-committee should be transformed into a new body operating under ICMA's auspices, to be known as the International Repo Council (IRC). In this context, in June 2000 the board enacted new section 1000 which, among other things, determines the structure and composition of the new IRC.

For more information, please visit the International Repo Councils area.