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New Timeline for February Penalties process

After extensive evaluation and considering wide-ranging discussions of recent days, the CSDs have agreed in principle on a process for February penalties. Below we outline the timeline for the February penalties process and some of the elements that CSDs took into account.

Acknowledging the AFME proposal of last Friday (March 11), the CSDs confirmed their agreement and possibility to proceed with collection and distribution for payment date on 13 April.

The resulting timeline of the process:

*The dates decided by the CSDs are communicated by them to the participants.

Useful documents:

Dates for reporting of Monthly Net amounts. (Last updated on 31 March 2022. The overview of the CSD preferences is updated intra-day, upon reception of information; we hope to complete the document on 18 March, at the latest. Please refer to the relevant CSD communication as the ultimate source of information.)

ECSDA April calendar for March penalties (for Easter holidays). (Last updated on 30 March 2022.)

EU Commission Publishes Proposal to Review the CSDR

The European Commission has published the proposal for the review of the Central Securities Depositories Regulation – a key action in the 2020 CMU Action Plan.

We look forward to responding to the call for feedback by delving into the detail of the proposal. Together with the ECSDA Members and key stakeholders, we are keen to contribute to ensuring a competitive and resilient European financial market!”

Please see the proposal.

Termination of Russian CSD Membership

Today, on 9 March 2022, the ECSDA General Meeting has resolved to terminate the Associate Membership of its Russian Member, National Settlement Depository. The decision is effective immediately.

ECSDA Board agrees to proceed with the termination of membership of its Russian Member

The European Central Securities Depository Association (ECSDA) has closely monitored the situation in Ukraine and the global response to it. The Association acknowledges the strong measures that are taken by the European Union and its allies following the invasion of Ukraine led by the Russian and Belarus regimes.

On that basis, the ECSDA Board feels obliged to react to the situation in line with the EU and international stance on the topic. Due to the circumstances, the Board decided that the ECSDA General Meeting on 9 March 2022 will vote on the termination of membership of its Russian Member, the National Settlement Depositary. Ahead of the vote, ECSDA suspends the participation of the representatives of its Russian member in all working groups.

ECSDA will be carefully watching the evolution of the situation. We hope for the quickest reestablishment of peace in the region! Our thoughts are with all the civilians affected by the military invasion in Ukraine and those suffering from the regimes in Russia and Belarus.

Severance of correspondent relations between NDU and the CSD of the Republic of Belarus

Message on behalf of the Ukrainian CSD

National Depository of Ukraine announces the severance of correspondent relations with the Central Depository of the Republic of Belarus on February 28, 2022.
The complicity of Belarus in the military invasion of the Russian Federation towards Ukraine makes impossible cooperation of our countries.
We condemn the support of invaders and murderers who kill the Ukrainian people.

With the willingness to peace restoration and with Ukraine in our hearts,

NDU Management

Important communication from NDU

On 24 February 2022, the National Depository of Ukraine informed ECSDA that « due to the acts of military aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine », the application of the martial law in Ukraine from 24.02.2022 and the relevant decision of the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market, the CSD operating hours on that day have been reduced to 11:00 am local time. From that moment and until a different decision is taken, the Ukrainian National Securities and Stock Market Commission temporarily suspended the placement, circulation, and redemption of all securities, as well as operations in the depository accounting system and clearing systems of persons conducting clearing activities. This is with the exception of the operations required by the National Bank for monetary policy and the Ministry of Finance public debt service.

The full list of restrictions on the stock market is available here (only the Ukrainian version is available)

NDU confirmed that their contacts remain unchanged.

SKDD receives the CSDR licence

Today, 10 February, The Central Depository and Clearing Company, Inc. (SKDD) informs capital market participants and the interested public that on 10 February 2022, the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA) announced on its website that HANFA had issued a Decision granting approval to SKDD as a central securities depository under Regulation (EU) no. 909/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on improving the settlement of securities in the European Union and on central securities depositories and amending Directives 98/26 / EC and 2014/65 / EU and Regulation (EU) no. 236/2012 (CSDR).

SKDD will start providing services in accordance with the CSDR on 14 February 2022, when the amended SKDD acts come into force: Rules and Instructions as well as Fee Schedule. The amended acts are also complied with the provisions of the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the settlement discipline regime, except for the rules on buy-in, the application of which has been postponed.

The list of CSDs authorised under the CSDR is provided on the CSD Facts page of the website.

CSDs activate their settlement penalties mechanisms

1 February 2022 is the day of the entry into force of the Central Securities Depositories (CSD) Regulation (Regulation (EU) 909/2014) settlement penalties requirements. The requirements can be found on the website of the European Securities and Markets Authority. Most European CSDs are activating the mechanism on that day.

Many answers to the CSD participants’ questions on how the requirements will be implemented by CSDs can be found in the ECSDA Penalties Framework. Its version dated 5 October 2021 will be used for the set-up of the CSDs’ mechanisms as of 1 February 2022 and provides many answers to the frequently raised questions. More information about how the individual CSDs are applying settlement penalties requirements is provided by their website.

ECSDA uses the opportunity to remind the key milestones of the monthly reporting and collection/distribution process.

To ensure that the penalties processes are running smoothly, CSDs will be following the indicative timeline of the monthly process outlined below. Should the monthly reports be delayed for some reasons (e.g. a delay on the CSD side for a technical reason or a T2S delay), the CSD will only proceed with the subsequent steps of the monthly process after the participants receive the monthly reports. Section 12.2 of the Framework describes the handling of exceptions.

Source: ECSDA Penalties framework.

If an appeal based on a daily report is required, it should be addressed to the CSD as soon as practically possible, to be taken into account on time before the monthly payment request is sent to a participant. (For T2S CSDs, no change is possible after the 10^th Penalties Business Day. The end of appeal for cross-CSD penalties is also be shorter than for intra-CSD; please refer to the communication of the individual CSD.) The amounts mentioned in the monthly report must be the ones collected and distributed. Penalties subject to an appeal submitted on time will be removed before the monthly report is sent, thus these will not appear on the penalties monthly reports. After the monthly process has been concluded, no further adjustments for the penalties received and distributed should be done by CSDs.

We encourage CSD participants to refer to the basics of the appeal mechanism, e.g. in the ECSDA Framework and the individual CSDs´ governing documents to limit queries and appeals to the extent possible. CSDs particularly ask the participants to verify the validity of reason for appeal before submitting it. This would avoid drawing upon the highly solicited CSD expert attention without a valid reason and ensure more efficient treatment of valid appeals.

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