Euroclear Nederland, the central securities depository (CSD) of the Netherlands, has launched a new corporate actions service aimed at enabling clients to better manage the assets held in custody for them by the CSD, specifically voluntary corporate actions.
Euroclear Nederland’s clients will be able to indicate their choice of a cash or stock-dividend distribution for all dividend declarations with such a voluntary stock option attached to it.
Euroclear Nederland will announce the details of the optional conversion before the security trades ex-dividend, including the deadline for the client to communicate its choice and all relevant settlement information.
Clients will receive real-time confirmation of their cash or security positions, depending on their choice, immediately upon settlement. The new service will cover all Dutch and certain foreign securities that are eligible in Euroclear Nederland. The CSD will also take responsibility for communicating in a centralised manner all conversions relating to the dividend option to the issuers’ paying agent.
“Building on today’s announcement, we would like to offer our clients even more options in the management of their custody-related events by providing a range of new corporate-actions services in the future,” Guy Schuermans, chief executive officer of Euroclear Nederland, said. “To this end, we plan to work in close cooperation with local market participants to determine the precise scope and timeframe for the introduction of such services.”