OREANDA-NEWS. February 27, 2012. National Settlement Depository (NSD), Russia's only settlement depository servicing the full range of debt and equity securities of Russian issuers, and PJSC National Depository of Ukraine (NDU) have signed a memorandum of cooperation and an agreement to open and maintain NSD's correspondent account with NDU.

Through the agreement, the parties strive to establish, develop and strengthen mutually beneficial relations, aimed at creating an efficient and reliable system of recordkeeping regarding trans-border settlements on securities.

The depositories place great importance on expanding bilateral cooperation, and the two companies intend to build close business relations with regard to the following principles:
Exchange of information focusing on clearance, settlement and recordkeeping systems in Russia and Ukraine
Opening mutual correspondent accounts
Conducting mutual training sessions and an exchange of experience between the depositories' specialists
Formation of working groups to implement joint projects
Examination of Russia's and Ukraine's recordkeeping systems and the development of proposals to facilitate their convergence
Exchange of statistics
Providing consulting services to Ukrainian and Russian stock market participants within the scope of the two countries' recordkeeping systems and their interactions
Coordinating interactions between Russia's national numbering agency and Ukraine's national numbering agency aimed at improving a system to assign codes to securities and other financial instruments in compliance with international standards ISO 6166 and ISO 10962, as well as the implementation and development of systems using other international standards within the framework of the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA)
Mutual consultation regarding information storage and processing systems
Cooperation regarding participation in international projects aimed at integrating NSD and NDU into the international settlement system
Other matters requiring the depositories' mutual cooperation

Eddie Astanin, Chairman of the Executive Board, NSD, said: "Development of partner relations and technological interactions of NSD with National Depository of Ukraine are oriented toward joint development of the post-trading infrastructure of our financial markets. This step reflects our vision and represents our reaction to global changes that encourage new strategic alliances and the consolidation of infrastructure in financial markets."

Sergei Rumpa, Chairman of the Executive Board, NDU, pointed out: "The signing of the memorandum is an important strategic step toward the convergence of Russian and Ukrainian recordkeeping systems; it will give additional opportunities to both countries' market participants. Moreover, our mutually beneficial cooperation, combined with the integration of our efforts focused on participation in international programs and our information exchange and joint consulting will guarantee the successful integration of NSD and NDU into the international securities recordkeeping system. It is worth mentioning that both depositories act as national numbering agencies, which allows us to interact in assigning codes to securities in accordance with international standards. NDU realizes the importance of cooperation with NSD, an organization with vast experience in the depository services sector. This is a crucial issue for NDU that will have a positive effect on our national depository system. We plan to cooperate in all aspects of depository activities and this cooperation will surely have positive results, which in turn can be a basis for further expansion of interactions."