26th May 2021
CSDR License of ATHEX CSD

The Hellenic Central Securities Depository (ATHEXCSD) obtained the Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR) license from the Hellenic Capital Markets Commission, effective from 12 April 2021. ATHEXCSD will be providing the CSD services as stipulated in the ATHEXCSD Rulebook and the implementing Resolutions of the ATHEXCSD's Board of Directors. This practically means that:

• ATHEXCSD will continue to offer its well established Straight-Through-Processing that allow its Participants and global custodians to seamlessly operate segregated accounts for over 1.5 million account holders. In addition, it will also be able to offer omnibus accounts with bespoke services. Omnibus accounts can be opened by any intermediary down the chain. The holder of the omnibus account will be responsible for
  • Collecting, reporting and paying the sales tax through its local Participant and ATHEXCSD to the Tax Authorities with regard to any OTC internalized instructions down the chain and on behalf of the seller;

  • Passing on information down the chain and verifying the data on direct beneficiary clients of the omnibus account when such information is requested by ATHEXCSD, following an identification of shareholders request from the issuer or by authorities. The shareholder disclosure request from the issuer and the identification shall follow the established SRD II market practices;

• ATHEXCSD will be able to provide the main and ancillary CSDR services, including registry, to issuers from other jurisdictions, through the use of the passporting benefits that CSDR introduces.

• Issuers will also be better serviced as:
  • They will continue to benefit from the daily registry services offered by ATHEXCSD, allowing them to identify beneficial owners directly from the segregated accounts and omnibus account holders from the flagged omnibus accounts held at CSD level. Upon their request and in accordance to SRD II, ATHEXCSD will be able to offer them premium services including shareholders identification.

  • They will be able to receive from ATHEXCSD enhanced services in accordance to SRD II requirements, including corporate actions announcements via the use ISO 15022 messages and General Meeting announcements via the use of ISO 20022 messages

  • They will be benefiting from the well-established Axia e-shareholders meeting platform provided by ATHEXCSD for collecting votes and proxies, reconciling shareholders identification, running e-GMs and informing the participants of their votes. The guidelines agreed by all market participants in Europe will be followed with regards to the use of ISO 20022 messages in all related process flows.

Socrates Lazarides, CEO of ATHEX Group and ATHEXCSD, said: "CSDR provides to European Capital market landscape a common set of high and consistent standards across compliant Central Securities Depositories (CSDs). The license is another important step in the provision of reliable and value ?added services to our Participants and Issuers keeping the DNA of the market intact. The new environment that will fully support omnibus accounts in Greece is expected to simplify the post trading environment for international investors."

Download the Press Release