20 July 2015 – The growing popularity of virtual currencies such as bitcoins is having an impact on securities markets with the emergence of new forms of virtual currency-based investments. Transactions in these innovative products typically make use of “blockchain” technology, a process allowing for speed and efficiency, but also presenting new challenges in terms of financial stability and investor protection.
3 July 2015 – The “Level 2” standards under the CSD Regulation will be submitted to the European Commission in September 2015, instead of June. ECSDA believes that this delay can be beneficial and contribute to better regulation if it allows for a thorough legal and market review of the draft standards and impact assessments.
13 May 2015 – The CMU initiative of the European Commission is likely to affect all financial markets players, infrastructures included. ECSDA’s response to the Commission Green Paper includes four recommendations from a CSD perspective.
27 Apr 2015 – Minimum capital requirements should reflect CSDs’ specific activities and their low risk profile compared to banks and CCPs. In its response to the European Banking Authority consultation, ECSDA makes several recommendations on how to achieve solid and truly proportionate capital requirements for central securities depositories.
24 Feb 2015 – This year, the ECSDA annual report is published in the form of an online blog highlighting the key events that have marked the life of the association in 2014.
You can also obtain an overview of ECSDA members and governing bodies as of 31 December 2014 by visiting the About section.
19 Feb 2015 – In its response to the ESMA consultation on “Level 2” legislation on central securities depositories, ECSDA identifies several issues that need to be solved prior to the finalisation of the new rules.
19 Feb 2015 – What will be the market impact of the CSDR rules on settlement discipline? The draft measures issued by ESMA for consultation in December 2014 in the context of the CSD Regulation (CSDR) would create a settlement discipline framework which has the potential to substantially affect the way securities transactions are cleared and settled today.
26 Jan 2015 – A “CSD link” is an arrangement allowing a central securities depository to give its clients access to securities maintained in another CSD, without requiring its clients to be direct participants in the other CSD. Links are thus an important means to facilitate cross-border securities transactions and they contribute to market integration. Based on data collected in the second half of 2014, ECSDA has produced an overview of CSD links which shows that a dense network of links has developed over the past years.