National Settlement Depository (Russia)

The National Settlement Depository (NSD), headquartered in Moscow, is a Russian non-bank financial institution and central securities depository (CSD). It provides depository, settlement (bank account), and related services to financial market entities. Its services cover both securities listed in Russia's 2011 Federal Law "On the Central Securities Depository", and other Russian and foreign equity and debt securities. NSD is the CSD of the Russian Federation, and was assigned CSD status by the Russian Federal Financial Markets Service in 2012. It is the largest securities depository in Russia by market value of equity and debt securities held in custody, which in June 2022 were 70 trillion roubles ($1.12 trillion).[1] It is a member of the Moscow Exchange Group. In March 2022, in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, NSD's accounts were blocked and frozen at international CSDs Euroclear and Clearstream (CSDs which together held €50tn of assets on behalf of investors).[2][3] In addition, the European Union added NSD to its sanctions list, blocking NSD's accounts in euros, and in Euroclear and Clearstream; as a result, NSD could not service forex-denominated bonds issued by Russia and Russian companies. NSD suspended transactions in euros.[4]

  1. ^ "TOP-30 of Russian securities depositories by market value of clients' securities held in custody as at 31 December 2010". www.safedepo.ru.
  2. ^ Stafford, Philip; Stubbington, Tommy; Smith, Robert (28 March 2022). "Banks stuck in legal tangle over Russian corporate bond payments". Financial Times.
  3. ^ "Russia-related Settlement Disruptions Manageable for Euroclear and Clearstream". Fitch Ratings. 10 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Depository Russia planned to service Eurobonds halts euro transactions". Reuters. 3 June 2022 – via reuters.com.