The Belarusian Currency and Stock Exchange (BCSE) has become the first company to conclude a Registration Agent Agreement with National Settlement Depository (NSD), and receive a license from the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF).
Now, Belarusian stock market participants will be able to use NSD’s services to assign and maintain Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) via the local Registration Agent. The Belarusian Currency and Stock Exchange will collect and check client documents, provide them with information support, assist in performing formal procedures, and also pass reports to clients from NSD.
The presence of LEI and verified information about Belarusian companies in the CLEIF database will also increase the investment attractiveness of Belarusian issuers’ securities.
For NSD, this is the first experience interacting with foreign clients when providing Local Operating Unit’s (LOU’s) services via the Registration Agent. The Registration Agent role was established by GLEIF regulations. The Agent does not assign and service LEIs. Its role is to facilitate market participants’ access to Local Operating Unit’s services.
NSD is the first company with LOU status in Russia and CIS countries.
Andrei Aukhimenya, Chairman of the Management Board, BCSE, said: “This project was a natural stage in developing mutually beneficial cooperation between the Moscow Exchange Group and BCSE. Obtaining the Registration Agent status allowed us, relying on NSD technology, in the shortest possible time to form the necessary legal and technical base to provide Belarusian companies with the services to obtain and maintain LEIs inside the country. This step reflects the gradual formation of Belarusian financial market infrastructure that meets international standards.” Mr. Aukhimenya also pointed out that the format of interactions between the Belarusian Currency and Stock Exchange and NSD may be also useful for other members of the International Association of Exchanges of CIS Countries which are potentially interested in providing similar services.
Tatiana Trostyanitskaya, Director of the Securities Department, NSD, added that NSD’s scheme of interactions with foreign clients via the Registration Agent was developed in response to an increasing demand by CIS clients to facilitate and accelerate access to NSD LEI assignment and verification services. The pandemic, which changed many business processes, also contributed to implementing optimal ways to communicate with foreign customers at the same service quality level.