AECSD Reports Results of 11th Conference of Eurasian CSDs

On 5 September 2014, the 11th International Conference “Securities Trading in the Electronic Era – Regulation, Competition and Technologies” was held by the Association of Eurasian Central Securities Depositories (AECSD) in Baku, Azerbaijan. The annual forum and the annual general meeting (AGM) of the AECSD members were organized by the National Depository Centre of the Republic of Azerbaijan (NDC).

The AECSD conference traditionally unites the participants from the central securities depositories (CSDs), international organizations and government agencies of Eurasian countries. In 2014, over 25 delegates took part in the forum. Among the speakers were representatives of central securities depositories of Azerbaijan and Turkey, State Securities Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, SWIFT and Citibank. Delegates from the international consultancies and rating agencies also attended the event. During the conference, the AECSD participants took part in the AGM.

Eddie Astanin, Chairman of the Executive Board, National Settlement Depository (NSD), spoke about the AECSD’s role in international initiatives, in particular, in the World Forum of CSDs uniting all associations of central securities depositories. In particular, the AECSD members will pay special attention to meeting the CPSS-IOSCO’s and FATCA’s requirements to infrastructural organizations within the framework of the Forum.

A few more NSD specialists spoke at the conference. Sergei Aristov, Director of Client Relations Department, presented results of the research of the AECSD members’ financial infrastructures. The research revealed a need to adapt the AECSD countries’ laws to international norms and standards, to assess the CSDs’ activities in accordance with international standards (CPSS-IOSCO Principles), and to continue to improve and automate the STP in respect of both depository and payment services.

Dmitry Ivanov, a specialist of Correspondent Relations Department, NSD, presented a report on opening the inter-depository CIS accounts with NSD. In particular, in 2014, two major developments of the Eurasian clearing and settlement industry took place: central securities depositories of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan opened the CSD foreign nominee accounts with NSD.

Akshin Jahangirov, Chairman of the conference, Acting Chairman and First Deputy Chairman of NDC, proposed to carry out the next AECSD conference and the AGM in 2015 the Republic of Kazakhstan. After a discussion this option was adopted as a basic one.

At the AGM the shareholders approved the candidates to the following AECSD working groups:

• Electronic Interactions Channels (development and unifying the EDI channels and electronic documents formats within the framework of AECSD);
• Legal Aspects of CSDs’ Activities and Law Changes (changed laws in AECSD members with regard to securities markets and CSD activities);
• Corporate Actions and Taxation (information exchange and establishing best international practices in corporate actions, beneficiaries disclosure and taxation);
• DVP Settlements (interactions in respect of DVP settlements development);
• Information Interaction and Interaction with Other Regional CSD Associations (information exchange in respect of markets and securities, participation in surveys and exchange in information about the associations’ activities);
• AECSD Website Management (providing information content and website technical support).

A report on the Association’s website development (www.aecsd.org) was presented to the AECSD members at the AGM.