Unprecedented possibilities for equity issuers
KDD’s new platform will focus on offering issuers new ways to digitalise, optimise and streamline activities related to managing their equities, as well as certain solutions and benefits for shareholders of non-listed equities.
The digital ownership management platform is based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) which is projected to have a significant impact on the future of the financial industry, especially in the post-trade processes of the securities services industry.
The main beneficiaries will be equity issuers, who will obtain new solutions for managing equity. Issuers will be able to:
-
continuously monitor changes to the shareholders structure via secure access to the share register,
-
electronically exchange data with KDD when issuing and distributing new securities,
-
electronically communicate with shareholders to help facilitate annual general meetings and distribute information via a private communication channel,
-
execute corporate actions with a focus on dividend payments,
-
streamline operations for shares with built-in pre-emption rights and transfer restrictions that require board approval,
-
manage internal buy and sell information board, enabling buyers and sellers of securities to connect and trade shares OTC via KDD system members.
Services for non-listed equities
The platform will also have benefits for shareholders of non-listed equities, since the above-mentioned buy and sell information board will facilitate the distribution of information relating to the potential sale or purchase interests by investors or other shareholders.
KDD plans to roll out the end product to customers in phases, where the first phase will be dedicated to security testing and production preparation. The second phase will follow with the deployment of a production-grade DLT network for system members of KDD and the integration of the end solution with e-brokerage for a better shareholder user experience.
KDD ran a pilot programme during last summer to pre-launch the new platform with the goal of validating and fine-tuning the solutions that are built-in and to test it with real users and real securities data. At the time, KDD on-boarded two larger issuers with widely dispersed ownership to participate in the pilot programme to test the new platform.
KDD’s primary strategy for DLT is to utilise the benefits of the DLT network technology for complex data exchange within its core registry services and its systemic members. Furthermore, KDD will continue to employ the DLT infrastructure foundation developed by Securities Grid to explore native digital asset issuance in line with the progress of the EU regulatory environment.
Vojislav Kecojevic
Senior Relationship Manager, Global Securitie Services Slovenia