15th International Conference of Central Securities Depositories (WFC2019)

On April 8th 2019 AESCD held a regional meeting on the sidelines of the WFC 2019 Conference in Marrakesh (https://www.wfc2019.net/) attended by its members from Armenia, India, Kazakhstan, Korea, Russia and Turkey. WFC is the central event for the stock market held on a biennial basis, which has become a traditional framework for discussing matters of international cooperation and workflow of CSDs. This year the CSD of Morocco, Maroclear, has acted as the organizer of the event.

The business agenda of WFC 2019 was primarily focused on the impact of modern technologies on the general workflow of central depositories. The participants held discussions on various IT sphere related aspects including cloud-based technologies, cyber security, robotics and AI development prospects, cross border regulatory challenges in different jurisdictions, international cooperation, innovation and diversification, and the role of CSDs in the new digital world. Among the other topics, a number of other questions were also addressed, which includes whether blockchain is a new opportunity or a threat for CSDs, as well as the ways for CSDs to employ new business models.

A meeting of regional CSDs’ associations was also held within the frames of WFC 2019. The participants exchanged views on the recent developments in their particular CSD activities, and were updated on the scope of work of the AESCD and the preliminary results of developing the centralized education platform (E-learning) initiative. The meeting was concluded by a brainstorming session providing the members with an opportunity to underline the issues of special interest to be raised during the upcoming AECSD Annual General Meeting.

Secretary Generals discoursed on the relevant tendencies and challenges of the security market during the common discussion panel. The representatives of the European Central Securities Depository Association (ECSDA), the Asia-Pacific Central Securities Depository Group (ACG), the America’s Central Securities Depository Association (ACSDA), the Africa & Middle East Depositories Association (AMEDA) and the Association of Eurasian Central Securities Depositories (AECSD) took part in the discussion aimed at forming the common view on the workflow of CSDs.

As the members present in Marrakesh commended the Association’s report, it was further presented to the Conference attendees during the WFC Board Meeting with a particular stress on the E-learning platform (https://aecsd.org/en/e-learning/) that was reallocated to the AESCD web site early 2019. The participants noted that the total amount of materials published via E-Learning platform had increased significantly (currently 63 materials compared to 11 in December 2018). Up to now, new user-friendly interface was implemented to the platform allowing for subscription and various search options along with increasing of overall stability of the platform. Among current plans to further develop the E-learning Initiative is to promote awareness about the resource and engagement in its work within WFC community and to introduce a feedback mechanism for published materials.

The upcoming WFC 2021 will be organized by ECSDA, which has announced their decision on the hosting state and participant for the event, Czech Republic and CSD Prague. WFC welcomes all the participants for the next forum session in Prague in 2021.

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