Korea Securities Depository (KSD) and Clearstream launch investment fund cooperation

• Cross-border fund distribution services expanded by linking fund processing platforms FundNet and Vestima
• Partnership with KSD strengthens Clearstream’s investment fund strategy in Asia
• Markets in Asia are continuing to open up to offshore funds

On 2 February 2015, Korea Securities Depository (KSD) and Clearstream signed a contractual framework in Seoul which launches their investment fund cooperation. The new partnership supports cross-border investment fund distribution (direct and indirect distribution) by linking KSD’s FundNet and Clearstream’s global fund processing platform Vestima.

Clearstream has taken an important step in facilitating the opening of the Korean market for offshore funds, thereby strengthening its ties with Asian financial markets.

Mr. Jaehoon Yoo, Chairman & CEO, KSD, said: “The partnership with Clearstream significantly enhances our cross-border investment fund distribution capabilities. In response to the diverse investment needs of customers, we decided to establish a link with Vestima, the largest global fund processing platform. This partnership also provides our domestic Korean asset management industry with lower costs and higher efficiency.”

Philippe Seyll, Member of the Executive Board of Clearstream and Head of Investment Fund Services, described the partnership with KSD as a further milestone in our Asia fund strategy as it allows offshore fund managers to gain easy access to Korean investors. “We are pleased about the new link to KSD and the Korean investment fund market. Korea is a major domicile for investment funds in Asia, where markets are continuing to open up to offshore funds,” he said.

About Clearstream

As an international central securities depository (ICSD) headquartered in Luxembourg, Clearstream - a Deutsche Börse Group subsidiary - provides the post-trade infrastructure for the Eurobond market and services for securities from 54 domestic markets worldwide. Clearstream’s customers comprise approximately 2,500 financial institutions in more than 110 countries. Its services include the issuance, settlement and custody of securities, as well as investment fund services and global securities financing. With more than 12.5 trillion Euros in assets under custody, Clearstream is one of the world’s largest settlement and custody firms for domestic and international securities.

With over 200,000 investment funds including 70,000 hedge funds on its Vestima fund processing platform and close to 9 million settlement instructions processed every year, Clearstream is one of the leading providers of investment fund services worldwide. The company is also the largest contributor to the standardisation of fund processing.

Luxembourg is the second-largest fund market in the world after the U.S.A. Currently, more than 3,900 collective investment schemes are administered in and distributed from the Grand Duchy.

Further information: www.clearstream.com

About KSD

The Korea Securities Depository (KSD) is the sole central securities depository in Korea. It was established in 1974 under the Securities & Exchange Act of Korea. KSD provides depository and settlement services for all types of securities traded in the Korean securities market. KSD settles common shares, convertibles, preferred shares and warrants in the equities market. On the fixed income market it settles bonds and short-term monetary instruments like CDs and CPs. KSD operates FundNet Service, an infrastructure which processes all fund related operations from creation to expiration.

Further information: www.ksd.or.kr