On March 13th the international central securities depository Clearstream and National Bank of Ukraine signed the correspondent relations agreement for further opening a securities account at the Depository of the National Bank of Ukraine.
For the first time in its history, Ukraine joins an international securities depository. This step lays the foundation of the upcoming opening of a domestic link between the National Bank of Ukraine and Clearstream.
Establishing a link with Clearstream simplifies the access of foreign investors to the Ukrainian securities market, namely, domestic government bonds. Settlement of UAH-denominated domestic government securities through the ICSD’s system will reduce the transaction and time costs for investors and make these transactions coherent with the best international standards.
This will increase the attractiveness and liquidity of Ukrainian government securities market. The Ukrainian government will benefit from expanding the range of sources of long-term financing, reducing the cost of debt and improving the currency structure of public debt due to higher demand for UAH-denominated securities. Thus, the correspondent relations with the international depository Clearstream will provide an inflow of foreign capital to the Ukrainian economy and increase its financial stability.
Jan Willems, Head of Global Markets at Clearstream, comments: “This step will be the cornerstone of our upcoming access model for local Ukraine government bonds. We are looking forward to further accelerating our projects in Ukraine with our local partners.”
“Correspondent relations with the international depository would enable Ukraine to accelerate integration into the global capital market”, said Oleg Churiy, Deputy Governor of the National Bank.
"Start of Clearstream operation in Ukraine is a long-awaited step towards opening the Ukrainian local bond market to foreign investors. Over the last three years, we have systematically developed the primary market of domestic government bonds, aligned it with best international practices to increase participation of foreign investors”, said Oksana Markarova, Minister of Finance of Ukraine.