The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has launched a new link with The Canadian Depository for Securities Ltd. (CDS) that, for the first time, supports the processing and settlement of transactions in Canadian dollars at The Depository Trust Company (DTC), a DTCC subsidiary.
"This link provides DTC customers with a single depository interface for U.S. and Canadian dollar transactions," said John Abel, vice president, Product Management, DTCC. "In addition to streamlining the process for our customers, the link will reduce cross-border processing costs and boost efficiencies by eliminating problems associated with maintaining split inventories in Canadian and U.S. Securities."
In split inventories, some portion of a position in a dually listed security is maintained with CDS for Canadian dollar settlement and the remainder is with DTC for U.S. dollar settlement. The new link permits DTC customers to concentrate all U.S. and Canadian security positions in their DTC accounts.
The settlement link has been launched as a pilot with five customers and will run through Feb. 28 and move into full production March 1. This is the first DTC link to support settlement in a foreign currency.
"Since the early 1980s, DTCC's subsidiaries and CDS have developed linkages and close working relationships," said Abel. "These links between CDS and DTCC are among the most robust inter-market links in the world, processing more than a million transactions each month. But up until now, these links only supported transactions conducted free of payment or in U.S. dollars."
Customers in the pilot have reacted positively, citing streamlined processing, cost savings and risk reduction.
"The new link has been very easy to use and eliminates the need to employ more than one set of software," said Linda Neri, assistant vice president of Securities Processing Operations for Raymond James & Associates, Inc. "There's a great advantage to having securities with dual eligibility housed in one place instead of split inventories. Money also settles more quickly through the DTC link than through our current Canadian arrangements."
"Cost was a major benefit provided by the new link," Neri said, since the DTCC transaction fee was considerably lower than the fees currently paid for clearing and settling Canadian dollar transactions.
The link uses a DTC omnibus account at CDS and supports transactions sent by DTC participants to CDS brokers or custodians, as well as those sent by CDS brokers and custodians to DTC participants. It also supports Canadian dollar transactions between DTC participants.
As with U.S. dollar transactions, customers' security positions received via Canadian dollars will be immediately available for redelivery in DTC. DTC also has developed an end-of-day settlement process to settle Canadian dollar obligations in Canadian dollars.