On 9 February, Cecabank held a new edition of the Securities Services Conference under the title "A vision of the future for the new challenges faced by post-trading". This ninth edition focussed on current issues. A conference where banks, fund managers, investment services companies, insurance companies, supervisors and regulators, and technology companies come together to reflect and debate on the operational, technological, digital, regulatory and sustainability changes that are continually taking place and directly impacting this business. In addition, there were blocks dedicated to both the evolution of digital assets and new developments in the field of regulation and supervision.
The conference was held in person, in the Auditorium of the Reina Sofia Museum, between 10 a.m. and 2.15 p.m.
You can access the microsite by clicking here.
During her keynote speech at the forum, the Deputy Chairwoman at the CNMV, Montserrat Martínez Parera, stated that post-trading activity in Spain 'enjoys very good health', but asked that we 'reflect' on the changes that the technology entails in terms of opportunities, risks and market performance.
Santiago Carbó, independent director at Cecabank and Director of Financial Studies, and Executive Director of the Financial Digitalisation Observatory at Funcas, also declared during the introduction that the new financial environment, impacted by inflation and higher interest rates, 'is creating significant new challenges for the financial sector in general, and securities services in particular, at a time when savers are changing their expectations and readjusting their investment portfolios'.
The conference included two round tables and two presentations. The first debate, moderated by Aurora Cuadros, Corporate Director of Securities Services at Cecabank, focused on the 'Risks and benefits of decentralised finance: the role of blockchain in the finance industry'.
It featured Francisco del Olmo, Deputy Director in charge of Fintech and Cybersecurity at CNMV, Ana Santillán, Head of Sales at Fireblocks for Switzerland, Spain, Italy and Portugal, Gloria Hernández, Partner at Finreg 360, and Diego Villafranñez, consultant to the Technical Cabinet of the General Secretariat of the Treasury and International Finance of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation.
During the first debate, Cuadros claimed that the "crypto" business is currently undergoing a phase of 'refinement and settlement', but its pace of deployment is 'exponential', with 'more and more players participating and challenges still to be addressed'.
The second round table, "Key developments and reflections on Securities", featured Valentín Cerdán, Markets and Special Operations Manager at CaixaBank, Jesús Benito, CEO of Iberclear, BME, and Javier Ruiz del Pozo, Director of the Department of Secondary Markets at the Directorate General of Markets of the CNMV, and was moderated by Virginia Linares, Director of Coordination and Control at the Securities Services Division of Cecabank.
The thoughts shared during the round table served, on the one hand, and one year after the entry into force of the new Settlement Discipline, to take stock of the progress made in terms of settlement efficiency and, on the other hand, and looking towards the future, to share an overview of the main regulatory developments, both at international and at a more local level: the improvement in securities settlement and central depositaries (CSDR) and mandatory buy-backs, the disappearance of PTI within the framework of the so-called Reform 3, or a potential shift to T+1, to shorten the settlement cycle by one day.
The conference was completed with two presentations. On the one hand, Miguel Tahoces, Senior Market Infrastructure Expert, addressed 'Eurosystem projects in the field of post-trading: current and future status of TARGET Services'.
During his presentation he provided a closer insight into the work undertaken by the ECB in the field of post-trading and, more specifically, in the development of the market infrastructures operated by the Eurosystem: Target Services. He also recalled some of the milestones attained in 2022.
The last talk focused on "The new environment for occupational pension plans", by Manuel Ángel Álvarez, consultant to the Office of the Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, who explained that the regulatory reform of occupational pension plans is a 'necessary modernisation' that facilitates their growth and expansion in companies, among the self-employed and in territorial administrations.
Finally, during the closing ceremony, José María Méndez, CEO of Cecabank, emphasised the bank's commitment to values such as sustainability and good corporate governance: 'We believe that this industry has a critical role to play in promoting better governance', he noted.
The CEO of Cecabank also stressed that well before the implementation of SRD2, the bank had been facilitating customer voting in more than 70 different markets. Méndez also indicated that 'We offer "proxy voting" services that have become an industry benchmark and, like many of our other value-added services, represent the difference between a good custodian and a custodian that aspires to excellence, at each and every stage of the Securities Services value chain'.
