June 23-25, 2021, the Annual Educational Seminar of the Association of Eurasian Central Securities Depositories (AECSD) was held in an online format

In 2021 the seminar gathered a record number of participants exceeding 100 attendees (more than 50% growth compared to the last year event). The Seminar was attended by speakers and listeners from more than 20 countries, including representatives of state executive authorities, regulators, secretariats of regional associations of central depositories, depositories-members and observers of the AECSD. This year, the geography of the Seminar participants has also expanded, with attendees coming not only from the AECSD participating countries, but also from the UK, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Belgium and Germany.

The Seminar is aimed to foster exchange of experience and state of art knowledge about the models of accounting systems from other countries and coordinate joint actions for the development and integration of financial markets.

The topics of the Seminar consisted of the top issues for the depository sector: innovations, trilateral services and securities lending, schemes for servicing foreign nominee holders, information in ISO 15022 and 20022 formats, electronic IPO and administration of investment funds. The Seminar also discussed the automation of corporate actions, adaptation to foreign laws, and the specifics of servicing SUKUK, a financial instrument common in Islamic countries. Representatives of the Central Securities Depository of Iran and China (China Central Depository & Clearing Co., Ltd.) acted as guest speakers along with the speakers of the AECSD-members.

In addition, the participants shared their experience on maintaining efficiency and sustainability in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The plans of the AECSD-members include maintaining constructive and regular communication between central depositories, developing common initiatives, and transferring expertise. The priorities of the participants continue to be the development of innovations, strengthening financial stability and improving operational reliability.