Corporate Action Notifications

Voluntary and mandatory corporate actions processed by NSD for its clients (securities holders) may require submission of instructions. By means of such instructions, persons exercising the rights attached to the securities may choose one of the options available for the corporate action. However, there is a deadline for submission of instructions, which is set either by the issuer or by a third party responsible for the corporate action. In addition, securities depositories along the chain also need time to process instructions of their clients, for which reason they may set shorter deadlines by which persons exercising the rights attached to the securities must give their instructions.

NSD makes it possible for its clients to receive Reminders of corporate actions for which instructions may be given. A Reminder is a shorter version of a Corporate Action Notification sent to the client three (3) business days (for Russian securities) or two (2) business days (for foreign securities) before the deadline for submission of CA Instructions. NSD uses the following three main formats to send Reminders to its clients:

• ISO20022 (xml)
• ISO15022 (SWIFT)
• HTML

Similar to Notifications, Reminders are divided into two categories:

• Meeting Reminders; and
• Corporate Action Reminders

Reminders (CA013, CS013) for general meetings of shareholders (MEET, XMET, OMET) holding Russian or foreign securities are sent through various channels using the ISO 20022 and ISO 15022 standards to all clients with a positive balance in their securities accounts either as at the record date or as at the messaging date. Reminders for Russian securities are sent to those clients who have failed to disclose the details of persons entitled to participate in the general meeting.

Clients may opt out from receiving CA013 type messages (either for the client's code altogether, or for a particular securities account) or CS013 type messages (for the client's code altogether) by giving an instruction to NSD for transaction with code 97. To opt out, the "don't send" option has to be ticked in the instruction for CA013 type reports (stating, if necessary, the number of the relevant securities account) and/or CS013 type reports. If there is a valid instruction for transaction with code 97 available for the report recipient, the earlier settings have to be repeated and new ones have to be added.

At the same time, the Corporate Action Reminder (CA312 and CS312) service remains optional. To sign up for the service, an instruction for a transaction with code 97 has to be given either for the client in general, or for particular accounts.

Fee

There is no separate fee for a Reminder message. However, SWIFT messages are charged in accordance with the EDI Fee Schedule.

Messaging Rules

A Reminder message (a message with qualifier RMDR) will be sent to clients as follows: a message is issued based on the corporate action details, provided that there is a deadline set for giving instructions for that corporate action. Therefore, for a Reminder to be issued, the initial Corporate Action Notification must contain the following fields:

Early Response Deadline Date/Time (EARD). The date and time set by NSD as the deadline for submission of instructions for the upcoming event, where early submission of instructions (i.e., before the deadline) may allow the securities holder to enjoy additional privileges or bonuses. The time so specified is Moscow time, unless a different time zone is specified in the initial Corporate Action Notification,

Or

Response Deadline Date/Time (RDDT). The date and time set by NSD as the deadline for submission of instructions for the upcoming event. The time so specified is Moscow time, unless a different time zone is specified in the initial Corporate Action Notification.

Reminders (RMDR) will be sent to clients one (1) (BPUT type Corporate Action) or three (3) business days (BIDS, TEND or PRIO type Corporate Action) before the RDDT or EARD date for Russian securities or two (2) business days before the RDDT or EARD date for foreign securities, as the case may be.. If the corporate action event involves two or more RDDT/EARD dates, clients will be sent two or more messages, respectively. Messages will be sent on business days. Where the next scheduled Reminder date is a non-business day, the Reminder will be sent on the immediately preceding business day.

Reminders will not contain links to any documents relating to the relevant corporate action; and, for SWIFT messages, no MT 568 message with additional information will be issued. For the documents and the full narrative regarding the corporate action, the most recent Notification (NEWM or REPL) should be consulted.

Reminders will be sent to clients with a positive balance in their securities accounts either as at the record date or as at the messaging date.

Exception

Reminders sent in connection with the disclosure of a list of holders of Russian securities (DSCL). Such Reminders will be sent either as a GS036 Form report/statement or an MT 564 (RMDR) message, provided that the client has failed to submit a list of persons exercising the rights attached to the securities for the full quantity of securities specified in the initial request. Such Reminders are issued automatically at 4.00 a.m. (Moscow time) on the deadline date for submission of information on securities owners, as well as at other times at NSD's discretion.

Advantages

A message is sent as a Reminder of the upcoming event to inform the client of the need to give an instruction for the relevant voluntary corporate action or mandatory corporate action with options.

Corporate action notifications using the ISO 20022 standard are sent to all clients of NSD via the CA Web-client and Web-service.  Corporate action notifications using the ISO 15022 standard are sent via SWIFT to those clients in whose EDI Details Form SWIFT is specified either as the primary or backup channel for communication with NSD, but with an option of a copy of reports/statements being sent via the backup channel.

NSD allows its clients to manage the receipt of reports/statements and notifications relating to corporate actions either for the particular client, or for a particular securities account. By sending an instruction for transaction 97, clients may select either the HTML or XML format, as well as to opt-in/out for SWIFT notifications. Guidelines for managing corporate action and meeting notifications.