CDS celebrates 31st anniversary

The Central Depository System Ltd. (CDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), celebrated its 31st anniversary on 2 September, marking another milestone in the company’s journey.

An event to mark the occasion was held at the CDS office premises in Rajagiriya in the presence of CSE Chief Executive Officer Rajeeva Bandaranaike, Chief Regulatory Officer Renuke Wijayawardhane and the senior management and staff of the CSE and the CDS.

The CDS celebrates over three decades in the depository business, earning the trust of a large number of shareholders and users of the system. The organisation was established on 30 August 1991 to act as a depository in respect of securities traded on the CSE and to facilitate the settlement of securities that are traded. The CDS is the first depository in the South Asian Region and one of the first few depositories globally.

At present, the CDS interacts with 45 depository participants comprising 29 stockbroker firms and 16 custodian banks. In addition, the CDS services 290 listed issuers and over 800,000 CDS account holders.

The processes over 40,000 transactions, facilitates the opening of 907,536 CDS accounts and over 60 account holder change requests on a monthly basis.

The CDS has completely decentralised its operations by empowering its participants and account holders offering greater convenience and cost savings.

The ability to open a CDS electronically from any part of the world, the ability to make nominations electronically and receive dividends directly to the bank account are some examples of how the CDS has brought its services to Investor’s fingertips.

While congratulating the staff CEO Bandaranaike said: “The CDS has had an incredible journey over the last 31 years and has now grown to offer an augmented product range to its users. CDS now offers an array of services to corporates as well as to the shareholders of listed companies through their decentralised digital depository operations. Their smooth operation, no doubt, offers the utmost convenience and flexibility to all depository participants. We are proud to see that the CDS is continuously working on innovations to further improve depository services and evolving quite rapidly into a paperless environment.”

CDS Deputy Head Nadeera Athukorale said: “We believe that the trust placed by stakeholders with the CDS for over three decades is uppermost in our minds as we work towards the realisation of the vision of the CDS, the safe keeping aspects, and more importantly, diversification beyond its traditional role to serve different market segments.”

The CDS offers a multitude of services to its stakeholders via its core service unit Depository Operations as follows: Decentralised depository operations enhancing flexibility to depository participants; digital onboarding with online account opening for all local clients, foreign individual clients and corporate clients; de-mat services for deposits and transfers; maintenance of CDS accounts via CDS e-Connect empowering CDS account holders to easily access their CDS account; balance view; transaction history view; monthly statements for past six months; account detail change instructions directly/online from the client; intra account transfer requests directly/online from the client; private transfer requests for margin providers; Digital CDS 28 – e-mail and mobile number change requests and information dissemination to all stakeholders.

Further, the CDS’s diversified Corporate Solutions arm also provides the following value added services to companies: Complete registrar services solutions; comprehensive shareholder management to assist corporate actions; dividend payment services with registrar solution; e-Dividend services; IPO services together with registrar services for equity and debt; e-IPO solutions; facilitating AGMs with virtual AGM services; facilitating all other corporate actions of companies; nominations service with e-Nomination solution via CDS e-Connect and data report services.