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PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT |
Thomas Murray Issues a Central Securities Depository Rating of 'A+' to Depósito Central de Valores SA
LONDON - Thomas Murray, the specialist custody rating, risk management and research firm is pleased to announce the issue of a Public Depository Rating to Depósito Central de Valores SA (DCV), the Chilean Central Securities Depository. DCV has been awarded a Public CSD rating of 'A+', which represents low risk overall made up of the following components:
The A+ rating as assigned by Thomas Murray recognises the strong procedures and controls applied within DCV in order to minimise risk for market participants. The outlook has been assigned as Stable which indicates that there are no imminent developments that may change the rating at this stage.
DCV is the sole depository for all eligible securities in Chile. It operates on a for-profit basis and is owned by the major banks (30%), stock exchanges (29%), pension funds (30%), insurance companies (10%) and others (1%). DCV provides settlement and custody services for Chilean securities held with it. In addition to its domestic operations, DCV has developed a link with the Depository Trust Company (DTC), the US Central Securities Depository, to enable participants to move cross-border securities electronically or physically since 2008.
DCV has established a solid financial foundation through consistent profitability in recent years and broad insurance coverage for its operations. It has a well established internal audit department, which audits operational controls and is audited by several external organisations including Deloitte, which is appointed by the Surveillance Committee, a committee which is established under law as an independent group with responsibility for providing oversight of DCV's operations on behalf of its participants. This group is completely independent of management and is allocated its own budget to undertake reviews and audits of DCV as and when it requires.
A SAS-70 report has also been undertaken by Ernst and Young, the results of which have recently been published.
DCV has developed disaster recovery arrangements - it operates two alternative parallel IT sites where the capability exists to automatically transfer processing from one centre to another without any disruption to service. Also, it is currently in the process of dividing its staff into separate locations which, among other things, will provide an enhanced business recovery capability in the event of a physical disruption to operations at one of its sites, as these two sites will be in separate parts of the city.
The Chilean market operates in a predominantly dematerialised environment due in large part to the efforts of DCV in working with the community to immobilise and dematerialise its market's securities.
Simon Thomas, CEO and Chief Ratings Officer of Thomas Murray said when announcing the CSD rating of Depósito Central de Valores SA, "Thomas Murray is pleased to have assessed Depósito Central de Valores SA's existing operations and its risk management processes and announce the public rating for DCV. The review determined that DCV had implemented good risk management controls. Like most markets, the Chilean capital market will face new challenges for which DCV is well-placed to provide support should its shareholders and participants so direct. The current rating and the review process will assist DCV in this quest".
Fernando Yanez, General Manager of DCV, said "The management and Board of DCV is pleased to have worked with Thomas Murray in order to obtain an independent view of our existing capabilities and processes. The rating process involved a thorough review of DCV's operations process and the A+ rating demonstrates that DCV is in a strong position to support Chile's capital markets".
The Central Securities Depository rating assesses the risk exposures for investors associated with the processes the CSD has in place to facilitate the safekeeping and the clearing and settlement of securities, where applicable. It assesses six key risks. The methodology considers the capabilities of the depository and the quality and effectiveness of its operational infrastructure. It also assesses the depository's willingness and ability to protect its participants or clients from losses. As part of the rating, the scope and quality of the depository's services is assessed. The ratings are on a consistent global scale, using the familiar AAA to C ratings scale. Once the rating is assigned there is an ongoing surveillance process to monitor the depository.
Separately, Thomas Murray maintains proprietary assessments of over 140 CSDs globally as part of the Thomas Murray Depository Risk Assessment services. These reports are available via Thomas Murray at www.thomasmurray.com.
For further information contact:
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Simon Thomas or John Woodhouse |
Fernando Yanez Gonzalez |
About Thomas MurrayThomas Murray is a specialist custody rating, risk management and research firm specialising in the global securities services industry. Thomas Murray was established in 1994. The Company tracks and analyses over 250 custodians globally and monitors the risk of over 100 capital market infrastructures. The Company has a strong position as a provider of public and private ratings and risk assessments on global custodians, domestic custodian banks and capital market infrastructures. Visit Thomas Murray on-line: www.thomasmurray.com About Depósito Central de Valores SA (DCV)DCV is Chile's national securities depository supporting Chile's equity, fixed income and money markets. DCV is accountable for the safe custody and movement of securities, accurate record keeping and the processing of post-trade transactions. DCV is a for-profit company owned by Banks, Stock Exchanges, Pension Funds and Insurance Companies within the Chilean market. It is supervised by the Superintendencia Valores y Seguros (SVS). www.dcv.cl |
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© Thomas Murray Ltd. 2008 |