National Settlement Depository (NSD), Russia’s central securities depository, has announced that it has just received the status of authorized depository of Belarus which allows NSD to record the rights to government securities issued by the Ministry of Finance (on behalf of the Republic of Belarus). Prior to now, NSD clients could accept for custody and settle trades only on Belarusian issuers’ corporate bonds and shares.
Eddie Astanin, Chairman of the Executive Board, NSD, said:
NSD’s status as the authorized depository of Belarus will let us provide Russian and foreign investors interested in trading in Belarusian issuers’ securities additional opportunities. Moreover, such cooperation aligns with the objectives of the Association of Eurasian Central Securities Depositories (AECSD), which includes both our organizations, and strengthens efforts to develop post-trade financial market infrastructure in AECSD member countries.
Valentina Timoshenko, Director, Central Depository of the Republic of Belarus, added:
We hope that assigning authorized depository status to the Russian CSD will help attract foreign investors to the local market of Belarusian government bonds and will expand the range of opportunities we are able to propose to our clients.