Luxembourg-based clearing house Clearstream will now facilitate automated settlement for primary trades in Baltic sovereign debt.
Sovereign debt instruments issued by the Baltic governments will have to be registered with Nasdaq CSD and listed on the Nasdaq Baltic exchanges to be eligible.
This provides global investors with easy access to Baltic sovereign securities issued through domestic auctions.
Kaarel Ots, head of Nasdaq Baltic exchanges, states: ”[The offering] enables global investors looking to invest in the Baltic securities market to streamline their post-trade arrangements.”
Other benefits include automated service for primary market dealers and broad European cash and collateral pooling.
This initiative is the result of a joint effort between Clearstream, Nasdaq Baltic exchanges and Nasdaq CSD.
Dirk Loscher, head of custody and investor solutions at Clearstream, says: “By joining forces with our Baltic partners, we are pursuing our initiative to leverage the settlement functionalities offered by the T2S platform to make cross-border settlement in Central Bank Money a reality in the European government bond markets.”
Offering a country-specific focus, Rasa Kavolytė, director of the State Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania, adds: “[Automation of settlement] increases the attractiveness of Lithuanian securities, promotes investor competition and contributes to the formation of transparent market pricing.”
