Latvian Central Depository Launches a New Service for Data Exchange between Securities Market Participants

08.04.2011 RIG

Riga, April 8, 2011 – Latvian Central Depository has launched Message Hub, a new service for data exchange between securities market participants. The service comprises an exchange of electronic messages concerning settlement and has been developed according to the most up-to-date standards. Initially, the new service will be launched in the central securities depositories in Latvia and Estonia, Lithuania to follow suite.

Securities settlement and servicing of corporate actions is implemented by exchanging data between the banks and brokerage companies and the securities depositories of the Baltic countries using special encoded messages: from now on, they will be sent via the new data exchange service Message Hub. Up to now, market participants in each of the countries were sending their messages using systems that differed from country to country.

“The new data exchange service is a significant step towards the Baltic securities market harmonization and development and will make settlement in the Baltic market even more convenient. Also, the top security offered by Message Hub deserves a special mentioning, since this aspect is critical for financial markets,” Aivars Slokenbergs, Chairman of the Management Board of Latvian Central Depository points out.

The new data exchange service guarantees a data exchange security level that corresponds to international standards; moreover, it is easily compatible with other modern post-trade solutions available in Europe.

The implementation of Message Hub is a step towards single European securities market. The next stage will be implementation of ISO 20022-compliant uniform securities message formats, similar to what is under implementation in other securities depositories in Europe. When this has been accomplished, in 2014 the depositories of the Baltic States will be ready to join the single European securities settlement system TARGET2-Securities, which is a foundation for the development of single European financial market.  

About the Latvian Central Depository

Latvian Central Depository has the status of a national securities depository. It performs the functions of the central bank for securities, providing registrar, safe-custody and settlement services for all securities that are in public circulation in Latvia and also for those that are not listed on the exchange. In addition, the Latvian Central Depository provides other registrar services to its customers, e.g., the second pillar of Latvia’s pension system, shareholder registers for non-listed companies. Latvian Central Depository is a daughter company of NASDAQ OMX Riga. More: www.nasdaqbaltic.com.

About NASDAQ OMX

The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world’s largest exchange company. It delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents, with approximately 3,600 listed companies. NASDAQ OMX offers multiple capital raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings market, NASDAQ OMX Nordic, NASDAQ OMX Baltic, NASDAQ OMX First North, and the U.S. 144A sector. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and exchange-traded funds. NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more than 50 countries.  NASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMX Baltic are not legal entities but describe the common offering from NASDAQ OMX exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, visit http://www.nasdaqomx.com. Please follow NASDAQ OMX on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/NASDAQ-OMX/108167527653) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/nasdaqomx).

Media contacts

Āris Dreimanis

NASDAQ OMX Riga

+37167212431, Aris.Dreimanis@nasdaqomx.com