- A wide range of national and international speakers analysed the regulatory and digital challenges of post-trading.
- The event included two round tables that addressed regulatory developments and the opportunities arising from digitalization
- There were also special presentations on European regulation and the challenge of T+1 in Europe
BME organized an event yesterday at the Palacio de la Bolsa de Madrid to discuss the main challenges of post-trading. Javier Hernani, CEO of BME, opened the event, which was attended by more than 120 financial sector professionals, highlighting the regulatory changes that have been implemented in recent years with the aim of providing the market with the highest standards of transparency and security. He also stressed that the soundness of financial markets is a matter of state.
"Numerous events have recently tested the resilience of CSDs: pandemics, political threats, wars and cyber-attacks, among others. Despite all this, CSDs, as financial market infrastructures, have been resilient and have stood firm. We must continue to do so, and to do so we must address the new challenges that regulation and technology present us with," he said.
Javier Hernani was followed by Carlos Conesa, Deputy Director General for Payments and Market Infrastructures at the Banco de España, who highlighted the potential of digitalization to further improve the efficiency of the financial system. On CBDCs (central bank digital currencies), he highlighted the differences with cryptocurrencies, as CBDCs are not a new currency, but an alternative way of representing the existing currency issued by central banks.
The first colloquium, 'Regulatory developments in the field of Post-Trading', was moderated by Jesús Sánchez, Head Settlement Services at Iberclear, and was attended by Aurora Cuadros, Corporate Director of the Securities Services Area, Cecabank; Elena Mesonero, Regional Director for Spain and Latin America, Caceis; Manuel Pineda, Head of Custody and Securities Settlement, Citibank Europe PLC, Spain, Citibank and Vicente García Rubert, Post-Trading Technician, Secondary Markets Department, CNMV. Among other topics, the speakers discussed the efficiency of settlement, the regulatory future facing the sector and the changes to the Securities Market Law.
Anna Kulik, Secretary General of the European CSD Association, ECSDA, analysed in her special address the current state of European regulation and the challenges facing the industry, in particular the failed in settlement.
The second panel discussion consisted of Alberto López Nestar, Deputy General Manager, Iberpay¸; Inmaculada Navas, Head Legal, Compliance & Regulatory, SDX; Julio Faura, Founder and CEO, Adhara and Wayne Hughes, Head of Digital Assets Securities Services, BNP Paribas. In this debate, moderated by Francisco Béjar, CEO of Iberclear, the speakers discussed how they see the future of digital assets. They all agreed that this future will take time to arrive and discussed issues such as instant transfers, tokenized digital money, regulation and the importance of legal certainty and security in this new digital environment.
Iberclear's CEO, Jesús Benito, closed the day with the second special intervention, 'T+1, a new challenge in Europe'. He stated that BME's position on this issue is neutral and recalled that in Spain the T+2 system has been in place since 2016. Among the benefits of the move to T+1 that the market sees are the reduction of counterparty risks and the modernization of processes, and among its problems, the impact on securities lending or ETFs in Europe, where the default rate is between 30% and 40% with T+2. He also raised as an open question whether it would be possible to move directly to atomic settlement.
You can see all the photos of the event here.