O/Ref. No. 30367 as of 19 December 2023
Attn
NSD's Clients
NSD Payment System participants
Issuers
Registrars
Further to Notice No. 28845 dated 28 November 2023, National Settlement Depository (NSD) hereby gives notice of its service arrangements during the New Year holidays in 2024, including the operating schedule of the NSD Payment System1 ("NSD PS") during this period.
1. On 3-5 and 8 January 2024, NSD will be providing depository, bank account, and clearing2 services, including NSD Payment System services, at hours provided for in the relevant agreements (including in the NSD Payment System Rules), subject to the following:
1.1. Cash transfers to and from accounts of NSD's clients, including NSD Payment System participants, will be executed subject to any changes in the operating hours of the Bank of Russia Payment System and external contractors:
- in Russian roubles and US dollars in accordance with NSD's rules for transactions in the respective currencies, except for transactions in Russian roubles for Type "C" Accounts;
- transfers in other currencies are only possible through the NSD Payment System;
- bank account statements as of 29 December 2023 (including for bank accounts of NSD Payment System participants) will be issued on 3 January 2024.
1.2. There will be no clearing sessions in the Commodity Market.
1.3. Collateral management services will be provided as usual, subject to the operating hours of the Bank of Russia Payment System and external contractors, and subject to:
- the schedule of Bank of Russia repo transactions (regulated and non-regulated) on 3-5 and 8 January 2023;
- specific requirements set forth by the Russian Federal Treasury, St. Petersburg Finance Committee, and Leningrad Region Finance Committee, including the collateral requirements.
Dear NSD's clients entering into repo transactions with the Bank of Russia, please note that if credit institutions have open repo transactions with the Bank of Russia as of 31 December 2023, the securities held as collateral will be revalued at current prices in accordance with the Procedure for Interaction between Clients and NSD in the Provision of Collateral Management Services. From 1 January 2024 to 8 January 2024, please keep an eye on that and ensure sufficient securities and/or cash for margin calls.
1.4. NSD will not be providing LOU services, including LEI assignment/verification/acceptance/transfer; NNA services for assignment of ISINs and CFIs to financial instruments, as well as services for assistance in assigning ISINs and CFIs to non-Russian financial instruments.
1.5. Messages sent by users of IT Services (Transit, Financial Messaging Transit, SWIFT Service Bureau) will be recorded and processed automatically (no transactional support will be available).
1.6. No services will be provided to assist securities holders to exercise their rights attached to Russian securities, other than services provided automatically, such as:
- notifications on record dates and sending reminders of forthcoming corporate actions (CAs);
- acceptance and processing of CA Instructions;
- acceptance and processing of instructions to register a list of securities holders disclosed / changes therein.
1.7. No services will be provided to assist securities holders in exercising their rights attached to non-Russian securities, other than services and transactions that require prompt execution, such as:
- CA notification;
- securities transactions resulting from CAs, including the blocking of securities;
- CA cash movement (credit/debit).
1.8. NSD and NSD Payment System will not be accepting for execution any documents (including cash transfer instructions) in hard copy, and will not be accepting untyped electronic documents (files) via the NSD EDI System, other than documents related to investigations of payments in Russian roubles and foreign currency and documents required for foreign exchange control purposes. NSD will start executing documents in hard copy and untyped electronic documents received on the dates specified in paragraph 1 of this announcement (if any) on 9 January 2024.
1.9. Transactions to be executed on the basis of any documents other than those referred to under paragraph 1.8 above and that require interaction with external counterparties will be executed subject to such counterparties' operating hours.
1.10. Messages sent by users of Repository Services (including the Registrar of Financial Transactions) will be recorded and processed automatically (no transactional support will be available). Messages received on 3-6 and 8 January 2024 (provided that they are successfully validated and matched) will be registered on 9 January 2024.
1.11. Fair value of securities will be measured and published by the NSD Valuation Center as usual.
1.12. NSD will provide technical support to the extent and within the timeframes required for the provision of services and execution of transactions.
2. 31 December 2023, 1, 2, 6 and 7 January 2024 will be non-business days, and no services will be provided to NSD's clients (including NSD Payment System participants).
3. We would also like to inform you that in connection with the scheduled maintenance, the depository operational day will be open on 30 December 2023, allowing instructions for transfer of securities between non-trading and/or trading depo accounts, and at the end of the operational day, reports on Forms IS401 and IS411 will be sent out for random data requests.
For all questions related to this notification, please contact us:
- clients – to the NSD Customer Relations team by phone: +7 495 956-27-90, +7 495 956-27-91;
- issuers – to the Issuer Relations team by phone on: +7 495 232-05-27 and by e-mail at ;
- registrars – to the Registrar Relations team by phone on +7 495 232-02-73 and by e-mail at .
1 The NSD Payment System operator is registered by the Bank of Russia in the Register of Payment System Operators under registration number 0014
2 Clearing Services will be subject to the operating hours of the Bank of Russia Payment System and external contractors.