National Settlement Depository (NSD) attended the International Financial Congress hosted by the Bank of Russia on 28 June to 2 July 2021. The major event in the world of finance brought together around 200 speakers, including representatives of the Bank of Russia, as well as global and Russian experts.
NSD took part in the panel discussion “Blockchain vs Custody Services”. Experts discussed the future of the distributed ledger technology, its impact on the prospects of conventional financial institutions, legal regulation, and potential models of the custody infrastructure’s future.
“Upon the emergence of blockchain, the technology caught the eye of the financial community, including infrastructure providers. Thanks to business cases implemented and the help from regulators in shaping the regulatory framework, building ‘sandboxes’, and launching digital currencies, we have gained important experience. It still remains for us to evaluate the impact of blockchain on the financial market and the custody infrastructure, and to understand what lies ahead, whether it is a revolution that would drive demand for disintermediation, or an evolution with changes taking place in response to investors’ expectations and the market development vector,” said Maria Krasnova, First Deputy Chairperson of NSD’s Executive Board, the discussion moderator, at the opening of the discussion.
The session was attended by:
- Petr Lanskov, Chairman of the Board of Directors, PARTAD,
- Yuri Dubin, Managing Director and Depository Director, SberBank,
- Tatiana Medvedeva, Senior Legal Advisor, Centre for the Development of Stock Market,
- Nikolay Kolodeyev, Director General, Eldis-Soft,
- and, as a front-row speaker, Alexei Fedotov, Director of the Strategic Development and International Relations Department, Best Efforts Bank.
The discussion participants managed to arrive at a consensus that an evolution of the custody infrastructure looks most likely. Institutions will evolve towards becoming platform operators, use their status as trusted centers in a new capacity, and ensure a seamless transition to a new digital era.