Sri Lanka’s CDS signs MoU with NSDL India to share knowledge on depository services

May 26, 2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Depository System (Pvt) Ltd (CDS), a fully owned subsidiary of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Securities Depository (Pvt) Ltd of India (NSDL), for the purpose of knowledge sharing in the area of depository services, the company said in a statement. “We anticipate developing a closer working relationship with the NDSL and other regional Depositories in the future, to maintain channels of communication for exchange of information,” Vajira Kulatilaka, Chairman of the Central Depository System (Pvt) Ltd said.







“We also hope to promote visits for knowledge sharing purposes by Directors, Officers and employees of regional depositories, in the hope of collectively improving industry standards.” The statement said that the NDSL was the first and is the largest depository in India, responsible for the establishment of a national infrastructure of international standards that handles most of the securities held and settled in dematerialised form in the Indian capital market. “Therefore NDSL is seen as the ideal partner for the CDS in its trajectory of growth for the future as a leading service provider for the financial services industry in Sri Lanka,” the statement said.









The CDS hopes that by knowledge sharing with the NDSL it will strive to adopt industry best practices and reach its diversified goals of being a service provider to a series of stake holders in the capital market while face emerging market challenges. The MoU intends to explore opportunities for cooperation between the two depositories, establish a basis for cooperation in depositary and settlement related matters, and establish operational linkage between the two depositories.



The CDS, in November last year, underwent a transformation process with the launch of a new generation Central Depository System and upgrades to the Automatic Trading System (ATS).





With the new system in place, account holders were provided with a series of support services such as monthly statements via email and a SMS service for CDS account holders.