March 15th, 1993 is an important date, not only for Depósito Central de Valores (DCV), but for the Chilean financial market as a whole, since it was the date on which this company, that provides security and transparency, was created.

AFTER 25 YEARS, AND SUMMARIZING DCV’S HISTORY, WE MAY CONCLUDE THAT IT HAS BEEN MARKED BY THE CHALLENGES THAT IT HAS UNDERTAKEN AND BY THE MAJOR GOALS THAT IT HAS ACHIEVED. TODAY, THE MARKET RECOGNIZES DCV AS AN OUTSTANDING ENTITY THAT PROVIDES EXCELLENT SERVICE, NOT ONLY IN ITS PRINCIPAL FUNCTION IN THE CUSTODY AND SETTLEMENT OF SECURITIES, BUT ALSO IN OTHER AREAS, INCORPORATING THE VISION AND NEEDS OF THE CUSTOMERS IN THE CREATION OF RELEVANT INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE FINANCIAL MARKET.

Major Milestones in the history of DCV

The first major milestone of the company took place in early 1995, when DCV moved its offices to Huérfanos street, in Central Santiago, thus transferring 100% of the securities that the Central Bank of Chile held in custody to custody in the central vault. The following year, the company became a relevant player in the local financial market, and it later undertook a strategic role for the development of the Chilean market.

In 1997, DCV registered all deposits of the fixed-income and equity instruments that were traded in the national market, significantly increasing its custody volumes. This figure grows every year, reflecting a solid and reliable service for its customers. The company currently holds in custody more than 9,400 million Unidades de Fomento, equivalent to 1.6 times the national GDP, and with more than 150,000 transactions per month.

The history of Depósito Central de Valores is full of relevant milestones, which include the current 6 business lines and more than 20 services, such as DCV Registros, created in 2000, and aimed at managing the registry of shareholders sociedades anónimas and the registry of investment fund contributors.

Another relevant event in its history is that, as of July 1st, 2004, all issuances prior to January of that year were only accepted in deposit as electronic titles, bringing an end to the existence of printed titles in the company’s vault. Thanks to this initiative, more than 1,000,000 printed titles of banking and financial institutions became electronic titles. Today, 97.9% of DCV’s portfolio is in electronic format, and only 2.1% in printed format.

The necessary internationalization

At the beginning of the last decade, DCV looked beyond national borders and engaged in the analysis and development of services for the international market. For this, it put its efforts in the need to integrate itself into international financial markets, in pursuit of agreements allowing for it to establish reciprocal services with foreign securities depositories. One of these alliances is its inclusion into the Integrated Latin American Market (MILA), and the arrival in Chile of the global giant Euroclear.

DCV is a unique institution, and as such, it must constantly analyze international best practices and include them into its operation. In light of this, in 1999, it was one of the first countries to join the Americas’ Central Securities Depositories Association (ACSDA), of which it is currently vice president, represented by Javier Jara, Manager of Business and Legal Affairs.

“DCV has modernized the securities market, eradicating practices that remained unchanged for decades, and providing the possibility to operate with securities in secure and efficient environments. In these 25 years, the company has always been proactive in the search for new technologies. In light of this, we are currently engaged in the most important project to modernize our systems, in order to include international standards and best industry practices, thus providing a renewed and certainly better service experience. We also work in conjunction with other foreign securities depositories, to investigate the applications of Blockchain technology and evaluate its potential uses in this field. I.e., DCV does not stop at what it has already achieved, but it always wants to be one step ahead”, stated the General Manager of the company, Fernando Yáñez.

Images of our anniversary

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