National Settlement Depository (NSD), Russia’s central securities depository, and Interfax information agency, have announced a launch of a joint project aimed at the corporate information collection, verification and distribution.
According to the agreement signed on 2 April 2015 within the framework of the Exchange Forum, the parties intend to coordinate their efforts for the development of a system of assessing the fair value of financial instruments (the price center).
The key goal of cooperation of NSD and Interfax in the sphere of corporate information is to create a reference database containing all available data about Russian issuers and their financial instruments.
The system will integrate official data of the record keeping system of Russia’s central securities depository, information disclosed by issuers via Interfax as an agency authorized to disclose information to the stock market, and up-to-date information about issuers and securities collected by Interfax.
Principles of formation the corporate information system that is being created by NSD and Interfax correspond with the newest global practice of information product development in the Reference Data segment. In particular, a multi-level process of data verification will be used, information will be updated promptly, the entire database and its components will be integrated directly into the clients’ information systems in a convenient way.
It is planned to launch the first information product created as part of the project within the nearest month.
Another direction of cooperation between NSD and Interfax will be a development of an objective system of assessing the fair value of financial instruments that will meet the requirements of Russian law and recognized by financial market participants (the price center).
Eddie Astanin, Chairman of the Executive Board, NSD, said: “The project developed jointly with Interfax in the sphere of corporate information will allow replacing inconsistent and even contradictory data with a unified, reliable and standardized information source. With respect to the price center development, we see that creation of a national benchmark in the sphere of fair value of securities is a very important and widely demanded task for the market. Both projects contribute to a systemic minimization of risks associated with use of incorrect, untimely or incomplete information about Russian issuers and their securities.”
Vladimir Gerasimov, First Deputy General Director, Interfax, added: “The NSD’s and Interfax’s project aims at reducing market participants’ costs for receipt of accurate and user-friendly information. They will receive data in the unified format and will be able to customize them in accordance to their specific needs.”