New SKDD Rules and Procedures

Zagrebacka Banka d.d.
Thu, 25/05/2023
Summary: Central Depositary and Clearing Company Inc. confirmed its new Rules and Procedures will enter into force on 1 June 2023 as a prerequisite for integration of Croatian market to Target2-Securities.
In line with decision of the Management Board of Central Depositary and Clearing Company Inc. (SKDD) and after the approval of Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA), new SKDD Rules and Procedures will become effective as of 1 June 2023.
New Rules and Procedures have been prepared to adjust SKDD’s business operations to the model of the centralized account management according to EU standards and as a prerequisite for integration into Target2-Securities (T2S). In due course of migrating its operations to EU systems (T2, T2S and ECMS), SKDD’s intention is to establish the appropriate business and information architecture in accordance with prescribed EU standards.
 
Account reconstruction includes the introduction of transactional accounts for SKDD participant members for the settlement purposes in T2S. In more details, custody accounts will be replaced with transactional custody accounts as follows:
  • segregated custody account - replaced with transactional segregated custody account
  • omnibus and numbered custody account - replaced with transactional omnibus custody account.
 With the entry into force of its new Rules and Procedures, SKDD will replace all existing custody accounts with transactional custody accounts, as per the above rules.
In line with the new SKDD Rules and Procedures, starting as of 1 June 2023, Global Securities Services Croatia (GSS) will open and manage transactional custody accounts on behalf of its clients. Numbers and titles of the existing custody accounts will remain unchanged, however SKDD will offer one additional feature. Namely, beneficial owners having multiple transactional segregated custody accounts open by the same local custodian in SKDD under the same beneficial owner’s name / local tax ID (OIB), will be able to differentiate multiple accounts by adding additional remark or title to the account name. If such approach is selected by the client, account set-up in SKDD will have to be mirrored in the books of Zagrebacka banka.
 
One of the main goals of the new model of the centralized account management is to encourage individuals and legal entities currently holding their assets on the ordinary accounts in SKDD to transfer their securities to SKDD participant members, with the ultimate goal to leave the ordinary accounts in SKDD empty in the future. This is in line with the market practices and the account management model in T2S.

Impact on investors: With new Rules and Procedures, SKDD continues its preparations for integration to T2S.