One of the most attention-grabbing long-running stories of recent times in the international financial services markets is surely the goal that Russia has set itself to integrate into the global financial market.
What has been achieved to date, despite a macro-political and macro-economic background that would appear to greatly reduce the chances of success, borders on the astonishing. Jane Austen might observe that it is a truth universally acknowledged that Russia has already made strides and advances towards modernity that few would ever have bet their mortgage on.
The fact that Eddie Astanin, Chairman of Russia's central securities depository, the National Settlement Depository (the very existence and functioning of which is a marvel in itself), was in June this year elevated to the board of SWIFT (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) as the first Russian representative on that 25-strong board, speaks volumes about the progress recorded. As does the signing in February 2015 of a Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMOU) signed with the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) regarding interactions with Russia in the financial markets.
Looking ahead, Eddie Astanin is confident that the arrival of the Russian CSD in such circles will be to the mutual benefit of many institutions who are active participants in the international securities markets. He relishes the challenge of continuing to help drive the acceptance of Russia as a fully modernised market that is more than ready to take its place in the financial world.
The potential for Eddie Astanin to exercise significant medium- to long-term influence in the sector is clear, not least because he is also vice chairman of the World Forum of Central Securities Depositories (WFC – Forum), which represents the thoughts and interests of more than 120 member CSDs around the globe. One early result of his combination of SWIFT and Forum duties has been the conducting of research into the needs of CSDs around the world in relation to SWIFT services. At best, this could help steer the development of SWIFT as we know it today into an entity that matches the needs of its global client base even more closely.
“A standard feature of the Forum's biennial meetings is a presentation from SWIFT detailing new products and services,” he says. “At our last meeting in Mexico in May this year we had a discussion on the gap between SWIFT and the needs and expectations of its CSD clients. The idea was born that we could create a connection between the CSD world and SWIFT, so when I was elected to the SWIFT board in June I suggested that we do a study, the feedback from which might lead to the introduction or enhancement of services that could reduce settlement risk and financial risk.
Eddie Astanin is quietly but firmly optimistic that the creation of this link between the World Forum of CSDs and SWIFT will on the one hand enable the common voice of the CSD industry to be clear and on the other its messages to be received more sympathetically. “We now have a formal conduit for two-way communication. I believe that SWIFT should listen more attentively to the CSD industry, which should be more active as a customer and tell SWIFT more about their requirements of its products, services and standards. But I also believe that SWIFT can demonstrate how CSDs can use its new services more quickly and effectively than perhaps they currently do.”
Another way to deliver CSD industry message is Eddie Astanin's participation in the working group at SWIFT Board of Directors, the Securities Services Committee, which meets four times a year, the day ahead of the main board meeting at SWIFT's headquarters in Brussels, and led by Göran Fors, Deputy Head of Investor Services, SEB, Sweden, the chairman of the Committee. “This has been set up with the explicit goal of improving SWIFT products and services in securities industry,” he says. “I am sure that this will be beneficial for both sides. It is a classic win-win situation.”