The Depósito Central de Valores (DCV) participated actively in the ACSDA 2015 Leadership Forum which was held on November 16 and 17 in Cancun, Mexico, through a delegation made up by Javier Jara Traub, Commercial and Legal Affairs Manager; Claudio Herrera, Operational Risk Assistant Manager and Juan Carlos Melys, Commercial Assistant Manager.

The meeting brought together some 30 representatives of ACSDA (Americas’ Central Securities Depositories Association) member countries.

The aim of this event was to analyze contingency issues of the depository industry, share experiences and address future challenges. The main topics discussed on this occasion were:

1. Settlement in T+2: Though in countries such as Chile, settlement after two days of negotiation is a reality, in some markets such as the American, the settlement cycle is T+3. The USA and Canada reported on the progress of the work agenda to reduce settlement times and implement this in the third quarter of 2017. It was noted in the forum that considering the number of ACSDA members with direct links or through custodians with these market for inter-listed securities, the need to evaluate a wide range of possible consequences originated by this change is required, as well as develop an action plan to enable a smooth transition in those markets that could be impacted by this change.
2. Withholding Tax: The services provided by DTC (The United States Central Depository) for foreign investors, which would facilitate tax refunds associated with these investments, were discussed. Accordingly, we assessed whether investors have adequate support for an “appropriate” tax relief, and if central depositories are willing to improve the service level offered to investors. According to Juan Carlos Melys, there is now a growing interest by investors of Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico to grow in the American market through the international custody service offered by securities depositories.
3. Anti-disaster and business continuity recovery plans: this session was led by Claudio Herrera, DCV’s Operational Risk Assistant Manager. Considering that operational continuity is a strategic pillar for the Company, the plans that DCV has to meet contingencies were analyzed here. The relevance of this issue for ACSDA members’ securities depositories was noted, so the lecture was a contribution to those depositories that are less developed in this area.
4. Collaboration and integration among depositories: this panel was led by Juan Carlos Melys, DCV’s Commercial Assistant Manager, and it analyzed concrete existing opportunities to develop greater collaboration both in the most emblematic projects such as the Latin American Integrated Market (MILA) as well as in other initiatives, and share experiences with critical suppliers and look at possibilities of internship initiatives, among others.

Juan Carlos Melys highlighted the benefits of these types of events which gather executives from different areas of security depositories of the region; he explained that they enable to collect first-hand feedback of projects they are working on as well as address issues more deeply.

 “At DCV we believe that it is important to be present in this type of event and participate actively in the sessions, showing the work and developments in crosscutting issues and obtaining experiences from other depositories while having in mind that they can turn into opportunities for us”, he said.

“There are issues such as those of the risk area which consider continuity and anti-disaster recovery plans where we observe that we have progressed well in comparison to other depositories, so there is interest in the model we implemented. This takes us to be ever more committed with the development of the central depositories of the region”, he said.