Brussels, 06/02/2013 (Agence Europe) -On Monday 4 February 2013, the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee adopted a position on the draft regulation to harmonise the work of the 30 or so central securities depositories (CSD) active in the European Union, following the approach set out by the European Commission to stabilise this market with a turnover of more than €900,000 billion in 2010 (see EUROPE 10569).
The MEPs have gone along with the Commission's idea of forcing CSDs to settle securities within two working days of the transaction. Flexibility will be allowed for small and medium-sized companies, however: “General rules on settlement discipline are in line with the T +2 rule, i.e. the settlement date should be no later than the second business day after the trade has taken place, in order to harmonise the settlement systems. Flexibility for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) should be provided. While SME growth markets should be expected to meet the T+2 rule, they should be spared sanctions if the settlement fails, for a period of up until 15 days after the intended settlement date”.
“CSDs will be able to provide banking services, using the same legal entity but they will have to fulfil some extra conditions such as being authorised as a credit institution, meeting prudential requirements and having an additional capital surcharge.” (MB/transl.fl)