Securities clearing and settlement in Serbia according to recommendation of ECB-CESR

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to, through analysis of the clearing and settlement system within the securities market and operating of the Central Securities Depository and Clearing House-a joint-stock company, Belgrade (ser. Centralni registar, depo i kliring hartija od vrednosti a.d. Beograd, hereinafter referred to as CSD), determine by comparison, the extent to which established rules and processes are harmonized with the EU regulations. Harmonization of the legal framework based on which the CSDs function, is one of the primary goals in the segment of business regulation at financial markets that the European Union pursues within its organizations. In this respect, in May 2009 The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) and The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) issued an official document entitled Recommendations for Securities Settlement Systems (Ref. CESR/09-446) containing recommendations which seek to improve competitiveness, safety and soundness of pan-European post trading arrangements, that should ultimately lead to greater confidence in securities markets and better investor protection by reducing systemic risk. Following completion of the comparative analysis of law regulations, business techniques, data protection and all the relevant parameters in work of the CSD, it was established that there is a very high degree of harmonization with the corresponding recommendations from the CESR/09-446 document, and thus, when it comes to this segment, we can conclude that the Republic of Serbia may very swiftly, and without major additional harmonization, become a part of the integral EU financial market