Relations between South Africa’s Central Depository (STRATE) and the custodians that own much of the market in the country have been strained for some time, with custodians accusing the CSD of conspiring to compete with custodians’ interests.
STRATE’s CEO, Monica Singer, simply calls the accusation a “misconception.” In a newsletter published by the CSD, she says STRATE’s role is as a central infrastructure that provides basic services.
The CSD allows value-added service providers to use the satellite to sell additional services to the various countries, in which case the CSD is not “competing with the value-add service providers but rather enabling them to deliver their differentiated products and services,” Singer writes.
“A conflict of interest does not arise, because the operator andthe service providers, while sharing the various countries as clients,offer different services and are therefore not in competition with eachother,” she writes.