NSD and CSDC pen MoU with an eye on blockchain

Central securities depositories from China and Russia have signed an MoU with a particular focus on post-trade blockchain applications.
By Paul Walsh
Russia’s central securities depositary (NSD) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation (CSDC), the Chinese central securities depository.

As part of the agreement, both parties have agreed to exchange information and cooperate in depositary and settlement operations, interactions via correspondent accounts, corporate action processing and information services.

Both parties have also agreed to cooperate in FinTech developments with a particular focus on the application of blockchain technology in the post-trade space.

Blockchain technology is currently being explored heavily in the post-trade sector.

Last month, SIX Securities Services and Digital Asset Holdings teamed up to develop distributed ledger technology (DLT) for the Swiss financial markets.

The two firms will look at developing a proof of concept aiming to demonstrate the commercial viability of blockchain across the whole market infrastructure value chain including post-trade operations.

“The Asian region is a very important element for full-scale integration of Russia’s post-trade infrastructure into the global financial system,” said Eddie Astanin, chairman of the executive board at NSD.

“Together with Chinese colleagues and under the support of the Bank of Russia and the People’s Bank of China we work on providing investors with mutual access to our countries’ markets.”

“Cooperation in the FinTech sphere will become an important element in our cooperation with CSDC. In particular, we agreed to coordinate our efforts aimed at researching the opportunities for using the blockchain technology in the post-trade sector.”

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