The Central Securities Depository Prague (hereinafter the “CSD Prague”) is an entity authorised by the Czech National Bank pursuant to the European Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR).
Records and Settlement
The primary activities of the CSD Prague consist of keeping the central register of dematerialised securities and the settlement of trades in investment instruments.
The Central Register records dematerialised securities issued in the Czech Republic. The Central Register is a two-stage register composed of a register kept by the CSD Prague and the follow-up records maintained by authorised entities, especially banks, investment firms and companies, etc.
The securities are recorded in two types of asset accounts. The first type is the owner’s account held by the securities owner. The second type is the customer account held by a CSD Prague participant, which, however, does not own the securities registered in this account but manages these securities on the basis of authorisation from their owners. While owner accounts and customer accounts may be opened within the Central Register kept by the CSD Prague, the follow-up records may only contain owner accounts.
The CSD Prague also keeps an independent register of securities, including especially foreign securities, certificates, collective bonds and derivative investment instruments. The CSD Prague also provides technical support for the keeping of an independent register of the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic.
The CSD Prague arranges for the financial settlement of trades in stock exchange and OTC securities concluded at the Prague Stock Exchange.
The CSD Prague operates on a participation principle, and its services associated with the registration of securities and settlement of trades are rendered only through its participants.
Other Services
The CSD Prague assigns international securities identification numbers (ISIN) to investment instruments and acts as a local operating unit (LOU) and assigns Legal Entity Identifiers (LEI), which provide unique identification of legal entities, to legal entities worldwide.
To issuers interested in dematerialisation, the CSD Prague provides information and support throughout the dematerialisation process.
Participants, users from the domain of the public authorities, issuers, administrators, notaries and others can obtain information on the basis of registration through secure communication using the My Depository information portal (formerly ISB).
In addition to these services, the CSD Prague also offers other services to its participants, issuers of securities and other parties involved in the capital market, such as the administration of foreign securities registered in CSD Prague accounts in the Euroclear and Clearstream international depositories, the payment of yields from securities or the services that relate to the lending of national and foreign securities.
History
The Central Securities Depository Prague has been operating as a capital market institution since 1993. In 1993, the Stock Exchange Security Register was founded, and was later transformed in 1996 to the joint-stock company UNIVYC. In 2010, the company took over the records of the Securities Centre and commenced the activities of a central depository under the new name of Centrální depozitář cenných papírů, a.s. (Central Securities Depository Prague). In 2018, the Central Depository was licensed under the Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR). The Central Depository is a member of the European Central Securities Depositories Association (ECSDA).
PX Group
The CSD Prague is a fully-owned subsidiary of the Prague Stock Exchange.
It is part of the PX Group, the most prominent member of which, apart from the CSD Prague, is the Prague Stock Exchange. The Prague Stock Exchange is the largest and oldest organiser of the securities market (securities market operator) in the Czech Republic, with trades conducted through licensed traders, who are also Exchange members. The PX Group also cooperates closely with POWER EXCHANGE CENTRAL EUROPE (PXE), which is a trading platform offering power and gas trading.
CSD Prague Committees
In accordance with the European Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR), the CSD Prague has established the following advisory committees, which provide consultation and recommendations to the Board of Directors:
- Risk Committee – regarding the current and future overall tolerance of the Central Depository to risks and regarding its risk strategy
- Audit Committee – regarding the performance of the internal audit function of the Central Depository
- Remuneration Committee – regarding the remuneration principles of the Central Depository