From Paper-Based to Electronic Securities Post-Trading: Financial Automation and the Case of Crest
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SWIFT INSTITUTE SWIFT INSTITUTE WORKING PAPER NO. 2015-004 FROM PAPER-BASED TO ELECTRONIC SECURITIES POST-TRADING: FINANCIAL AUTOMATION AND THE CASE OF CREST DR HERMANN RAPP DR CRISTIANA PARISI PUBLICATION DATE: 10 NOVEMBER 2016 The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors. SWIFT and the SWIFT Institute have not made any editorial review of this paper, therefore the views and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of either SWIFT or the SWIFT Institute. SWIFT Working Paper Series 2016 From paper-based to electronic securities post- trading: Financial automation and the case of CREST Dr Hermann Rapp B.I.S.S. Research, [email protected] Dr Cristiana Parisi Copenhagen Business School , [email protected] Abstract Over recent decades, securities post-trading has seen a radical change from paper-based to electronic procedures. Technological advances have facilitated digitisation as a global trend. While in the investment industry technology has also been a key driver for financial automation since the late 1950s, a range of additional driving forces can be identified. In the 1980s, deregulation in the finance sector and privatisation led to millions of new shareholders and increasing transaction numbers in securities trading. The subsequent settlement crisis called for new solutions to transform centuries old business practices in the investment industry. This study focuses on CREST, a leading settlement infrastructure that facilitated the leap from paper- based to electronic post-trading in London. In 1993 it started as a project of the Bank of England, and today, CREST is operated by Euroclear United Kingdom & Ireland (EUI). Research objectives of this study are to investigate the industry context, how the CREST project was managed and introduced at a time of crisis, how the technology was designed, and its impact on financial markets and today’s UK and European infrastructure. Twenty individual interviews and one group interview with key actors were conducted, complemented by document analysis and secondary data. The study has generated rich data and confirms that CREST achieved the dematerialisation of securities settlement through a joint industry effort effectively reducing settlement time, risk and cost. A framework to study different perspectives on CREST is presented, and suggestions for a programme for future research are given. Key words: Securities post-trading, CREST, CRESTCo, settlement and clearing, financial automation, dematerialisation, European financial infrastructure, T2S, financial technology --- The authors wish to thank the SWIFT Institute’s research sponsorship programme for the opportunity to present this research at the SWIFT Business Forum 2016 in London. This research was made possible through support from the following sponsors: SWIFT, British Telecom, Euroclear, Travers Smith and the CISI. 1 Contents Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 4 1. Research background ............................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Research problem ......................................................................................................................... 5 1.1.1 Trading and post-trading in financial markets ....................................................................... 5 1.1.2 Competition and fragmentation in the European securities industry ................................... 6 1.1.3 Securities settlement and the critical relevance of settlement time .................................... 7 1.2 Background of the investment industry 1986 to 1993 ................................................................. 9 1.2.1 Technical backdrop and the digitisation of information ........................................................ 9 1.2.2 Political developments ......................................................................................................... 10 1.2.3 Financial industry context .................................................................................................... 11 1.3 What is CREST and what does it do? .......................................................................................... 14 1.4 Timeline ....................................................................................................................................... 15 1.5 Research objectives .................................................................................................................... 16 2. Research Design and Methodology ......................................................................................... 16 2.1 Case study design ........................................................................................................................ 16 2.2 Methodology ............................................................................................................................... 17 2.3 Multiple layers of investigation .................................................................................................. 17 3. Data collection ....................................................................................................................... 19 3.1 Sampling of interviewees ............................................................................................................ 20 3.2 Document analysis ...................................................................................................................... 20 3.3 Secondary data ........................................................................................................................... 21 4. Findings and discussion .......................................................................................................... 21 4.1 Business history perspective on CREST ....................................................................................... 21 4.1.1 The origin of CREST as a spin-off of the Bank of England .................................................... 21 4.1.2 The acquisition of CRESTCo by Euroclear............................................................................. 22 4.2 Business process perspective on CREST ...................................................................................... 22 4.2.1 The concept of dematerialisation ........................................................................................ 22 4.2.2 CREST – the “back office” project ........................................................................................ 23 4.3 Financial markets and technology design ................................................................................... 25 4.3.1 The settlement crisis as a market friction ............................................................................ 25 4.3.2 Financial automation and technical Innovation .................................................................. 25 2 5. Summary ............................................................................................................................... 28 5.1 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 28 5.2 Limitations ................................................................................................................................... 29 5.3 Future research ........................................................................................................................... 29 5.4 Impact and legacy ....................................................................................................................... 30 Appendix ................................................................................................................................... 31 References ........................................................................................................................................ 31 List of internal documents ................................................................................................................ 34 3 Executive Summary 2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of CREST, which went live on 15 of July 1996. This working paper is an outcome of the first phase of the CRESTCo Research programme. It presents first findings, lays the groundwork for future research, and suggests conceptual frameworks and layers of investigation to analyse different aspects of CREST. • This paper argues that to understand CREST, it is important to look at the industry context at the time it was initiated and launched. The financial “Big Bang” in 1986 involved reforms of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the underlying legal framework, but did not change the paper-based processes. Privatisation had led to millions of new private investors. When stock markets crashed in 1987, the securities industry was being crippled by a “paper blizzard” of certificates as private investors wanted to sell their shares (the so called ‘settlement crisis’). Diagrams with settlement times and fees from the early 1990s enable context analysis. • This paper demonstrates that CREST enabled the step change from paper-based procedures to electronic techniques (i.e. dematerialisation) in securities settlement in London. CREST’s functionality was enabling the accurate processing of much higher volumes at increased speed, and its unprecedented resilience was ultimately solving the settlement