Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation

Established in 1973, The Depository Trust Company (DTC) was created to alleviate the rising volumes of paperwork and the lack of security that developed after rapid growth in the volume of transactions in the U.S. securities industry in the late 1960s.

Before DTC and NSCC were formed, brokers physically exchanged certificates, employing hundreds of messengers to carry certificates and checks. The mechanisms brokers used to transfer securities and keep records relied heavily on pen and paper. The exchange of physical stock certificates was difficult, inefficient, and increasingly expensive.

In the late 1960s, with an unprecedented surge in trading leading to volumes of nearly 15 million shares a day on the NYSE in April 1968 (as opposed to 5 million a day just three years earlier, which at the time had been considered overwhelming), the paperwork burden became enormous.[7][8] Stock certificates were left for weeks piled haphazardly on any level surface, including filing cabinets and tables. Stocks were mailed to wrong addresses, or not mailed at all. Overtime and night work became mandatory. Turnover was 60% a year.[9]

To deal with this large volume, which was overwhelming brokerage firms, the stock exchanges were forced to close every week (they chose every Wednesday), and trading hours were shortened on other days of the week.

Two things solved the crisis:

The first was to hold all paper stock certificates in one centralized location, and automate the process by keeping electronic records of all certificates and securities clearing and settlement (changes of ownership and other securities transactions). The method was first used in Austria by the Vienna Giro and Depository Association in 1872.[10]

One problem was state laws requiring brokers to deliver certificates to investors. Eventually all the states were convinced that this notion was obsolete and changed their laws. For the most part, investors can still request their certificates, but this has several inconveniences, and most people do not, except for novelty value.

This led the New York Stock Exchange to establish the Central Certificate Service (CCS) in 1968[11] at 44 Broad Street in New York City.[9] Anthony P. Reres was appointed the head of CCS. NYSE President Robert W. Haack promised: "We are going to automate the stock certificate out of business by substituting a punch card. We just can't keep up with the flood of business unless we do".[12] The CCS transferred securities electronically, eliminating their physical handling for settlement purposes, and kept track of the total number of shares held by NYSE members.[13] This relieved brokerage firms of the work of inspecting, counting, and storing certificates. Haack labeled it "top priority", $5 million was spent on it,[14] and its goal was to eliminate up to 75% of the physical handling of stock certificates traded between brokers.[12] One problem, however, was that it was voluntary, and brokers responsible for two-thirds of all trades refused to use it.[8]

By January 1969, it was transferring 10,000 shares per day, and plans were for it to be handling broker-to-broker transactions in 1,300 issues by March 1969.[15] In 1970 the CCS service was extended to the American Stock Exchange.[16] This led to the development of the Banking and Securities Industry Committee (BASIC), which represented leading U.S. banks and securities exchanges,[10] and was headed by a banker named Herman Beavis, and finally the development of DTC in 1973,[17] which was headed by Bill Dentzer, the former New York State Banking Superintendent.[18] All the top New York banks were represented on the board, usually by their chairman. BASIC and the SEC saw this indirect holding system as a "temporary measure", on the way to a "certificateless society".[10]

The second method involves multilateral netting; and led to the formation of the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) in 1976.

Bill Dentzer was Chairman and CEO from 1973 to 1994.[19] He was succeeded by William F. Jaenike, who was Chairman and CEO from 1994 to 1999.[19][20]

In 2010, Robert Druskin was named Executive Chairman of the company, and in July 2012 Michael Bodson was named President and Chief Executive Officer.[21]

In 2008, The Clearing Corporation (CCorp) and The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation announced CCorp members will benefit from CCorp's netting and risk management processes, and will leverage the asset servicing capabilities of DTCC's Trade Information Warehouse for credit default swaps (CDS).[22][23][24][25]

On 1 July 2010, it was announced that DTCC had acquired all of the shares of Avox Limited, based in Wrexham, North Wales. Deutsche Börse had previously held over 76% of the shares. On 20 March 2017, it was announced that Thomson Reuters acquired Avox.[26]

DTCC entered into a joint venture with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) known as New York Portfolio Clearing, that would allow "investors to combine cash and derivative positions in one clearinghouse to lower margin costs".[27]

DTCC has several subsidiaries:

• The Depository Trust Company (DTC) – The original securities depository.[29][30]

Established in 1973, it was created to reduce costs and provide efficiencies by immobilizing securities and making "book-entry" changes to show ownership of the securities. DTC moves securities for NSCC's net settlements, and settlement for institutional trades (which typically involve money and securities transfers between custodian banks and broker-dealers), as well as money market instruments. In 2007, DTC settled transactions worth $513 trillion, and processed 325 million book-entry deliveries. In addition to settlement services, DTC retains custody of 3.5 million securities issues, worth about $40 trillion, including securities issued in the United States and more than 110 other countries. DTC is a member of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, and a registered clearing agency with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Most large U.S. broker-dealers and banks are full DTC participants, meaning that they deposit and hold securities at DTC. DTC appears in an issuer's stock records as the sole registered owner of securities deposited at DTC. DTC holds the deposited securities in "fungible bulk", meaning that there are no specifically identifiable shares directly owned by DTC participants. Rather, each participant owns a pro rata interest in the aggregate number of shares of a particular issuer held at DTC. Correspondingly, each customer of a DTC participant, such as an individual investor, owns a pro rata interest in the shares in which the DTC participant has an interest.

Because the securities held by DTC are for the benefit of its participants and their customers (i.e., investors holding their securities at a broker-dealer), frequently the issuer and its transfer agent must interact with DTC in order to facilitate the distribution of dividend payments to investors, to facilitate corporate actions (i.e., mergers, splits, etc.), to effect the transfer of securities, and to accurately record the number of shares actually owned by DTC at all times.

• DTC Operation

Stocks held by DTC are kept in the name of its partnership nominee, Cede and Company.[10] Not all securities are eligible to be settled through DTC ("DTC eligible").

What is DTC eligibility? This means that a company's stock is eligible for deposit with DTC aka "Cede and Company." A company's security holders will be able to deposit their particular shares with a brokerage firm. Clearing firms, as full participants with DTC, handle the DTC eligibility submissions to DTC. Transfer agents were responsible for eligibility coordination years ago. Now, in order to make a new issue of securities eligible for DTC's delivery services, a completed and signed eligibility questionnaire must be submitted to DTC's Underwriting Department, Eligibility. Parties that may submit the questionnaire include one of the following: Lead Manager/Underwriter, Issuer's financial advisor or the DTC Participant clearing the transaction for its correspondent. The Lead Manager/ Underwriter must ensure that DTC's Underwriting Department receives the issue's offering document (e.g., prospectus, offering memorandum, official statement) and the CUSIP numbers assigned to the issue within the time frames outlined in DTC's Operational Arrangements.[31]

What is FAST processing? FAST processing is functionality that can be turned on for issuers whom are fully DTC eligible. Participation in FAST (Fast Automated Securities Transfer) allows issuers, security holders and brokerage / clearing firms to move stock electronically between one another. Transfer agents, as limited participants, file for FAST participation. DTC approves each issuer on a merit review basis into this system.

What are "chills" and "freezes" and why does DTC impose them? Occasionally a problem may arise with a company or its securities on deposit at DTC. In some of those cases DTC may impose a "chill" or a "freeze" on all the company's securities. A "chill" is a restriction placed by DTC on one or more of DTC's services, such as limiting a DTC participant's ability to make a deposit or withdrawal of the security at DTC. A chill may remain imposed on a security for just a few days or for an extended period of time depending upon the reasons for the chill and whether the issuer or transfer agent corrects the problem. A "freeze" is a discontinuation of all services at DTC. Freezes may last a few days or an extended period of time, depending on the reason for the freeze. If the reasons for the freeze cannot be rectified, then the security will generally be removed from DTC, and securities transactions in that security will no longer be eligible to be cleared at any registered clearing agency. Chills and freezes are monitored by DTC's Office of Regulatory Compliance.

DTC imposes chills and freezes on securities for various reasons. For example, DTC may impose a chill on a security because the issuer no longer has a transfer agent to facilitate the transfer of the security or the transfer agent is not complying with DTC rules in its interactions with DTC in transferring the security. Often this type of situation is resolved within a short period of time.

Chills and freezes can be imposed on securities for more complicated reasons, such as when DTC determines that there may be a legal, regulatory, or operational problem with the issuance of the security, or the trading or clearing of transactions involving the security. For example, DTC may chill or freeze a security when DTC becomes aware or is informed by the issuer, transfer agent, federal or state regulators, or federal or state law enforcement officials that an issuance of some or all of the issuer's securities or transfer in those securities is in violation of state or federal law. If DTC suspects that all or a portion of its holdings of a security may not be freely transferable as is required for DTC services, it may decide to chill one or more of its services or place a freeze on all services for the security. When there is a corporate action, DTC will temporarily chill the security for book-entry activities. In other instances, a corporate action can cause a more permanent chill. This may force the issuer to reapply for eligibility altogether.

When DTC chills or freezes a security, it will issue a "Participant Notice" to its participants. These notices are publicly available on DTC's website.[32] When securities are frozen, DTC also provides optional automated notifications to its participants. These processes provide participants the ability to update their systems to automatically block future trading of affected securities, in addition to alerting participant compliance departments. DTC has information regarding these processes on its website.

• National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) – The original clearing corporation, it provides clearing and serves as the central counterparty for trades in the U.S. securities markets.[33]

Established in 1976, it provides clearing, settlement, risk management, central counterparty services, and a guarantee of completion for certain transactions for virtually all broker-to-broker trades involving equities, corporate and municipal debt, American depositary receipts, exchange-traded funds, and unit investment trusts. NSCC also nets trades and payments among its participants, reducing the value of securities and payments that need to be exchanged by an average of 98% each day. NSCC generally clears and settles trades on a "T+2" basis. NSCC has roughly 4,000 participants, and is regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

• Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) – Provides clearing for fixed income securities, including treasury securities and mortgage backed securities[34][35]

FICC was created in 2003 to handle fixed income transaction processing, integrating the Government Securities Clearing Corporation and the Mortgage-Backed Securities Clearing Corporation. The Government Securities Division (GSD) provides real-time trade matching (RTTM), clearing, risk management, and netting for trades in U.S. government debt issues, including repurchase agreements or repos. Securities transactions processed by FICC's Government Securities Division include Treasury bills, bonds, notes, zero-coupon securities, government agency securities, and inflation-indexed securities. The Mortgage-Backed Securities Division provides real-time automated and trade matching, trade confirmation, risk management, netting, and electronic pool notification to the mortgage-backed securities market. Participants in this market include mortgage originators, government-sponsored enterprises, registered broker-dealers, institutional investors, investment managers, mutual funds, commercial banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions.

• DTCC Solutions – DTCC's subsidiary, formerly named Global Asset Solutions, delivering information-based and business processing solutions relative to securities and securities transactions to financial intermediaries globally, such as Global Corporation Action Validation Service (GCA VS) and Managed Accounts Service.[36]

GCA VS simplifies announcement processing by providing a centralized source of "scrubbed" information about corporate actions, including tender offers, conversions, stock splits, and nearly 100 other types of events for equities and fixed-income instruments traded in Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas. In 2006, GCA VS processed 899,000 corporate actions from 160 countries. Managed Accounts Service, introduced in 2006, standardizes the exchange of account and investment information through a central gateway.

• DTCC Learning – Provides financial, technology, and career training and educational services to the global financial industry.[37]
• Loan/SERV – Provides services to loan syndicates and agents.
• Deriv/SERV – Provides clearing for credit derivatives, such as CDOs.[38]

It provides automated matching and confirmation services for over the counter (OTC) derivatives trades, including credit, equity, and interest rate derivatives. It also provides related matching of payment flows and bilateral netting services. Deriv/SERV's customers include dealers and buy-side firms from 30 countries. In 2006, Deriv/SERV processed 2.6 million transactions.

• EuroCCP – European Central Counterparty Limited (EuroCCP) is the European subsidiary of DTCC that provides equities clearing services on a pan-European basis. Headquartered in London, EuroCCP is a UK-incorporated Recognised Clearing House regulated by the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA).

EuroCCP began operations in August 2008, initially clearing for the pan-European trading platform Turquoise. EuroCCP has subsequently secured appointments from additional trading platforms and now provides central counterparty services for equity trades to Turquoise, SmartPool, NYSE Arca Europe and Pipeline Financial Group Limited. EuroCCP clears trades in more than 6,000 equities issues for these trading venues. In October 2009, EuroCCP began clearing and settling trades made on the Turquoise platform in 120 of the most heavily traded listed Depositary Receipts.

Citi Global Transaction Services acts as settlement agent for trades cleared by EuroCCP, which now provides clearing services in 15 major national markets in Europe: Austria, Belgium, France, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden and Spain. Trades are handled in seven different currencies: the Euro, British Pound, U.S. Dollar, Swiss Franc, Danish Krone, Swedish Krona, and Norwegian Krone.[39][40]

• Omgeo – Omgeo is a central information management and processing hub for broker-dealers, investment managers, and custodian banks. It provides post-trade, pre-settlement institutional trade management solutions for the securities clearance and settlement industry, processes over one million trades per day, and serves 6,000 investment managers, broker/dealers, and custodians in 42 countries.[41] Omgeo was formed in 2001 as a joint venture between DTCC and Thomson Reuters combining various trade services previously provided by each of these organizations.[41][42] In November 2013 DTCC bought back Thomson Reuters' interest in the firm, so it is now wholly owned by DTCC.

As of 2019, Michael Bodson was the chief executive officer[1] under the supervision of an additional 20 members of the board of directors.[43]

Two board members are selected by "preferred shareholders" ICE and FINRA, while 14 are from international clearing agencies.[43]

Euroclear (in Brussels, Belgium) and Clearstream (in Luxembourg) are the second and third largest central securities depositories in the world.

Several companies sued DTCC, without success, over delivery failures in their stocks, alleging culpability for naked short selling. Furthermore, the question of whether DTCC is culpable for naked short selling was raised by Senator Robert Bennett and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), and discussed in articles in The Wall Street Journal and Euromoney.[44][45] DTCC contended that the suits were orchestrated by a small group of lawyers and executives to make money and draw attention from the companies' problems.[45]

Critics blamed DTCC, noting that it is the organization in charge of the system where the naked short selling happens, alleging that DTCC turned a blind eye to the problem, and complaining that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had not taken sufficient action against naked shorting.[45] DTCC responded that it had no authority over trading activities, and could not force buy-ins of shares not delivered,[46] and suggested that naked shorting was simply not widespread enough to be a major concern. The SEC, however, viewed naked shorting as a sufficiently serious matter to have made two separate efforts to restrict the practice.[45] DTCC has said that the SEC has supported its position in legal proceedings.[46][47][48]

In July 2007, Senator Bob Bennett, Republican of Utah, suggested on the U.S. Senate floor that the allegations involving DTCC and naked short selling were "serious enough" to warrant a hearing. The Senate Banking Committee's Chairman, Senator Christopher Dodd, indicated he was willing to hold such a hearing.[49] No such hearing was ever held, however. Representing state stock regulators, the NASAA filed a brief in a 2009 suit against DTCC, arguing against federal preemption as a defense to the suit. NASAA said that "if the Investors' claims are taken as true, as they must be on a motion to dismiss, then the entrepreneurs and investors before the Court have been the victims of fraud and manipulation at the hands of the very entities that should be serving their interests by maintaining a fair and efficient national market".[50] The suit was dismissed. Critics also contended that DTCC and the SEC were too secretive with information about where naked shorting was taking place.[45] DTCC said it supported releasing more information to the public.[46]

In recent years this controversy died down, as the impact of changes to SEC Rule 203 under Regulation SHO adopted in 2008 dramatically curtailed long-term short positions, and complaints about "naked short" positions declined.

• Securities market participants (United States)

• Dtcc.com: official DTCC corporate website
• Dtcc.com: DTCC History
• Dtcc.com: Legal notices
• Dtcc.com: DTC corporate website
• Dtcc.com: DTC Securities Eligibility
• Description by BIS of DTC and its activities
• Description by BIS of NSCC and its activities
• Nscc.com: NSCC corporate website
• Ecb.europa.eu: T2S Project of the Eurosystem
• FINRA statistics
• .de/volltexte/2007/4885/pdf/ILF_WP_068.pdf Uni-frankfurt: "The Rise and Effects of the Indirect Holding System: How Corporate America Ceded its Shareholders to Intermediaries"; by David C. Donald, Institute for Law and Finance, 18/09/07.
• Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation companies grouped at OpenCorporates