Author: Irina Bussoli

ECSDA Response to the IOSCO Policy Recommendations for Crypto and Digital Asset Markets Consultation Report

ECSDA Response to the IOSCO Policy Recommendations for Crypto and Digital Asset Markets Consultation Report

Today, 31 July, ECSDA responds to the IOSCO Policy Recommendations for Crypto and Digital Asset Markets Consultation Report.

ECSDA welcomes the overall direction chosen by IOSCO in its consultation while at the same time suggests a way forward that may further enhance its Recommendations.

We look forward to the final report in the coming months.
 
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ECSDA recruits a Governement & Public Affairs Adviser

ECSDA recruits a Governement & Public Affairs Adviser

About ECSDA

The European Central Securities Depositories Association (ECSDA) represents 39 national and international central securities depositories (CSDs) across 35 European countries. Central Securities Depositories are financial market infrastructures of crucial importance for EU and global financial stability. The association provides a forum for European CSDs to exchange views and take forward projects of mutual interest. It aims to promote a constructive dialogue between the CSD community, European public authorities, and other stakeholders aiming at contributing to an efficient and risk-averse infrastructure for European financial markets. You can find more about ECSDA, on its website and Youtube channel.

Our offer

The successful candidate will help develop the Central Securities Depositories’ position in a variety of relevant areas, searching for the alignment of members in sensitive regulatory areas, providing advice to the European (European Commission, Parliament and Council as well as ESMA) and National Competent Authorities on the regulation of CSDs, interacting with international organisations such as IOSCO, Financial Stability Board, OECD and others, and steering higher level of alignment and coherent implementation of the legislation across our Members.

The Public and government relations adviser will be in regular contact with the Chairs of the ECSDA Policy and Compliance working groups and will report directly to the Secretary General of the association.

We may explore a contract with a self-employed/independent consultant, on an invoice basis. In such a case, we may have certain flexibility on the location of the individual, within the remit of the EU. We may also explore a contract under Belgian law with an attractive package. In such a case, the candidate must have the legal right to work in Belgium. Part-time can be considered.

We are particularly looking for a candidate capable of diplomatic steering of consensus and development of a convincing and factually correct argumentation line in English.

The position is open immediately.

Tasks of the Adviser

  1. Help ECSDA Members, Board and Secretary General to identify the political priorities and design the positioning of the association in the changing regulatory environment by stimulating discussions of the association members;
  2. Organise the work of the ECSDA Policy and Compliance Working Groups (WGs) and related Task forces in the areas of the chosen priorities by, together with members, identifying the key legislative initiatives, with help of the members input, responding to the relevant consultation, drafting proactive thought leadership papers and helping in organising events in support of these activities;
  3. Follow-up on the Working group meetings by drafting summaries and taking action on the agreed decisions;
  4. Answer member queries on the relevant European legislation;
  5. Coordinate coherent implementation of legislation by European CSDs;
  6. Help steering industry standardisation in the relevant areas (such as agreement on the methodologies and frameworks for a coherent pan-European implementation, such as recently in the areas of Anti-money laundering);
  7. Produce research analysis based on data collected from members.

Technical skills and experience

  • You have working experience within an international association, a law firm or a public affairs consultancy firm (ideally specialised in financial services), a financial institution or a market infrastructure, or relevant other area (our offer will be adjusted);
  • You have exceptional writing skills and spoken English;
  • You have a master’s degree in law, economics, or political sciences (although an exception can be made for a candidate having additional experience and qualities).

Soft skills

  • You are proactive and capable of operating autonomously, and have an independent mindset;
  • You are a self-starter, ready to take ownership, solution-driven and client-focused, creative and going an extra mile;
  • You are assertive and diplomatic at the same time;
  • You have some project management skills and apply them to yourself and in your work with others, disciplined and have strong organisation skills and an eye for detail;
  • You can quickly build relationships with stakeholders.

How to apply
Please send your application via email (to jobs@ecsda.eu) addressed to the attention of Anna Kulik, Secretary-General of ECSDA.

The deadline for applications is 31 August.

The application must contain the following:

  • A CV in English;
  • A cover letter in English specifying why you would like to join ECSDA.
ECSDA Webinar on ISO messages for financial transactions

ECSDA Webinar on ISO messages for financial transactions

On 4 July, from 10.00 to 11.30 CET, ECSDA held a webinar on ISO messages for financial transactions.

Together with the broad stakeholder community of industry associations in Europe and globally, as well as other Financial Market Infrastructures, CSD participants, and relevant market stakeholders and authorities, ECSDA would like to discuss the evolutionary path of the Securities Messaging standards.

The Programme of the webinar includes:

  • Opening remarks by Anna Kulik, ECSDA Secretary General
  • Presentation of the ECSDA considerations on ISO messages for financial transactions by Jean-Paul Lambotte, Chair of ECSDA Messaging Task Force, Director at Euroclear, Product Management, Digital Communication Interfaces – presentation slides
  • Open discussion with participants
EU Council & Parliament reached agreement on CSDR REFIT

EU Council & Parliament reached agreement on CSDR REFIT

European Council and Parliament reach an agreement on the Central Security Depository Regulation REFIT Procedure!

This concludes a long process that aims to reduce compliance costs and regulatory burdens for CSDs, simplifying the passport regime and also enhancing cooperation among supervisors.

All of these aspects aim to make the EU Capital Markets Union more effective and more attractive.

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ECSDA Welcomes the Commission Proposal for Simpler Withholding Tax procedures

ECSDA Welcomes the Commission Proposal for Simpler Withholding Tax procedures

The European Central Securities Depositories Association (ECSDA) welcomes the European Commission Proposal for a new EU system for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax abuse in the field of withholding tax. The proposal aims to simplify procedures for claiming cross-border withholding tax relief and eliminate tax barriers. These barriers have been highlighted in a variety of post-trade industry reports as a major impediment to the proper functioning of the CMU, free movement of capital and prevention of tax abuse faced by financial investors and intermediaries.

In the context of fair taxation in the EU and the fight against tax fraud, inefficient and burdensome withholding tax relief procedures are a barrier to cross-border investments and limit the EU’s efforts in removing barriers to completing a Capital Markets Union (CMU).

ECSDA salutes the intentions of:

  • Enhancing EU competitiveness by a better functioning Single Market, thereby attracting investors;
  • Reducing antiquated paper-based processes due to the digitalisation of withholding tax relief procedures;
  • Reducing regulatory costs for investors as well as intermediaries thanks to the harmonisation of relief procedures; and
  • Eliminating tax abuse by simplifying cumbersome, lengthy and resource-intensive processes that aim to avoid double taxation.

As one of the main barriers that deters investment across borders and deepening integration of the EU CMU, ECSDA looks forward to engaging with public and private stakeholders in sharing insights from CSDs.

Legal text of the Proposal for Council Directive
Annex to the Proposal for Council Directive

European CSDs set a timeline for ISO 20022

European CSDs set a timeline for ISO 20022

Today, 26 May 2023, ECSDA publishes its considerations on ISO messages for financial transactions and recommendations on their use. The basis for CSD engagement with local communities and relevant stakeholders and further preparations. The messages for General meetings should be solely in ISO 20022 as from 2026, and Corporate actions and market claims should only rely on ISO 20022 as from 2030.

The standardisation of messages has been a key enabler to improve the level of Straight Through Processing (STP) of (I)CSDs services over the past decades. The way (I)CSDs communicate with their participants is in constant evolution.
The main standard used today in the post-trade industry is ISO 15022, but in the last few years, the usage of a more sophisticated version of ISO standard, ISO 20022, has increased.
The evolution of the ISO standard has been driven by the following key factors:
i) Creation of market infrastructures (e.g., T2S),
ii) EU legislation requirements (e.g., SRDII),
iii) Modernisation of (I)CSDs’ own IT systems, and
iv) Definition of new market standards (e.g., SCoRE).

European CSDs aim at further increasing the standardisation and efficiency of post- and pre-trade processes. The emergence of the new ISO 20022 standard for messaging is in line with this objective. Although along with the benefits, it also brought challenges for (I) CSDs and their participants; a coexistence period between the existing formats (ISO 15022 and/or proprietary messages) and new formats (ISO 20022) is needed to ensure a smooth transition to a new message format.
The ECSDA Board agreed to set up a dedicated Messaging Task Force to assess the current state of use of the different messaging standards and plans related to the migration to ISO 20022, as well as provide recommendations on the way forward.

Besides some background information and the expected evolution of the ISO standards in the European CSDs community, this paper provides recommendations on:
– The rules to put in place to ensure a smooth transition during the co-existence of the two ISO standards;
– The timeline for the discontinuation of ISO 15022 for some business domains;
– The usage of ISO 20022 data dictionary as a way to structure the information beyond the message formats.

Please note that these are recommendations and ECSDA intends to discuss them with the relevant market stakeholders, where needed.
While this paper was in preparation, ISSA, and ECSDA have also been working together on a survey addressed to the key financial industry actors about ISO 20022. The conclusions of the present paper should not be in contradiction with the analysis of the joint ISSA – ECSDA survey.

Read the full document.

ECSDA issues its updated CSDR Penalties Framework

ECSDA issues its updated CSDR Penalties Framework

Today, 28 April 2023 ECSDA issued the update of the ECSDA CSDR Settlement fails Penalties Framework.
The change takes into account the postponement of the collection of payment by CSD participants giving them an additional day to collect the payment from the underlying customers:

  • PFoDs Trade Date (TD) – from 15th to 16th Day
  • Payment Date – from 17th to 18th Day

ECSDA CSDR Penalties Framework last updated 28/04/2023