Prague, in the Czech Republic, will host the activities of the World Forum of Central Securities Depositories (WFC), which is scheduled to take place from 24 to 26 next May, with the participation of more than 135 central depository and registry companies around the world.
The World Forum of CSDs (WFC) is made up of five regional Associations of central depository and registry companies represented by the Asia-Pacific CSD Group (ACG), the Americas’ Central Securities Depositories Association (ACSDA), The Association of Eurasian Central Securities Depositories (AECSD), Africa & Middle East Depositories Association (AMEDA), and the European Central Securities Depositories Association (ECSDA).
For his part, Abdulla Abdin, President of AMEDA and Vice President of “WFC”, stressed the importance of the global forum scheduled to be held next May, to keep pace with the nature of the recent changes taking place in various markets and systems for central
depository and registry activities, especially in light of the nature of the challenges facing global registry and depository companies, the most prominent of which is the lack of awareness of their importance and vital role.
Abdin added that conference activities are scheduled to witness a GM for each regional Association, to discuss the special developments for each region, followed by holding the global conference, which focuses on several main pillars, including facilitating cross-border investment flows, FMI DLT Pilot Programs: Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead, Settlement Efficiency, Global view and systemic risk in post-trade services.
Furthermore, he pointed out that the activities will also witness the holding of “AMEDA” members for a general meeting on the sidelines of the conference, to discuss some issues related to the organization and its members, within the framework of aiming to consolidate the role of “AMEDA” in Africa and the Middle East, in cooperation with the WFC.
In the same context, Riham Khedr, Secretary General of AMEDA, said that the idea of establishing a global forum for Central Depository companies was AMEDA’s and was presented during the activities of the CSD international conference held in South Africa in 2011. During the same meeting, CSD conference changed to WFC conference.
Moreover, it was agreed that the AMEDA would take over the first term of the Presidency of the global forum in 2011, followed by the presidency of the rest of the regional organizations down to AMEDA taking over the presidency of the Forum again in 2019.
She further added that the idea of establishing the forum aims to ensure the presence of Central Depository companies in the international financial organizations such as the World Bank, CPSS-IOSCO, ISSA, AGC, and Thomas Murray.
In conclusion, the tasks of the World Forum of Central Securities Depositories (WFC) versify from representing Central Depository companies (CSDs) in all international economic organizations to submitting periodic economic and financial reports on the activities of its members to international bodies and regulators to assist those bodies in issuing international legislation needed by global financial markets, in addition to assisting them issuing recommendations to encourage potential investors to invest in promising members markets.
