Polling sessions during Clearstream’s Central Eastern European (CEE) Summit revealed that 83 percent of Summit delegates anticipate growth in the region’s debt capital markets between now and 2020. 50 percent of participants anticipate this growth will be via issuances on the international market compared to 33 percent on the domestic market, highlighting that both international and domestic issuances will play an important role moving forward. Overall, these results offer a positive outlook for the region’s growth in debt capital markets.
The more than 100 delegates were drawn from the CEE and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) banking community including leading commercial banks, central banks, central depositories, mutual and investment fund managers. They gathered in Prague on 18 and 19 April 2013 for Clearstream’s 9th CEE Summit – a chance for local market participants to exchange views and sentiment concerning the capital markets in the region and challenges they face in the coming months and years.
70 percent of participating businesses meanwhile cited they “still have a long way to go” to be ready for TARGET2-Securities (T2S is the future European harmonised platform for settlement). Just 7 percent cited T2S as their “No 1” market reform priority compared to 39 percent citing it as being in their “Top 5” priorities. 41 percent meanwhile reported T2S was “on the radar” but they had not yet fully assessed it in terms of their business. The voting results are in line with preliminary results of a Clearstream study based on research with customers, indicating that financial institutions across Europe don’t yet have T2S readiness amongst their top priorities.
Speaking at the CEE Summit, Philip Brown, Head of Client Relations Europe & Americas and Member of the Executive Board, Clearstream, commented: “Clearstream has enjoyed a strong and long commitment to the region for almost 20 years, with an extensive network of settlement links across the CEE region. It is encouraging to witness confidence in the region’s economic outlook – the CEE region has been of increasing economic importance over past years, as reflected in the growth in its Eurobond market activity. Yet much work still clearly must be undertaken to help the market better gear up for TARGET2-Securities, which is fast becoming a strategic imperative. Enabling a smooth transition for the CEE region to the future T2S platform is critical to helping the region maintain its momentum and reap the opportunities T2S brings, especially for collateral management.”
Additional topic discussions at the Summit included the wider emerging new regulatory landscape, global securities financing and investment funds distribution in the CEE region.
