Clearstream chief executive urges caution with new technologies

The chief executive of Clearstream has suggested the market should proceed with caution when it comes to new technologies, praising the effectiveness of the status quo.

The chief executive of Clearstream has suggested the market should proceed with caution when it comes to new technologies, praising the effectiveness of the status quo.

During a panel discussion at Sibos 2015 on ‘Global trends in regulated securities markets’ Marc Robert-Nicoud commended the value chain which central securities depositories and custodians have created, informing the audience to keep that in mind when discussing the role of new technologies.

“We can use new technology to make it [securities services] more efficient, but we need to recognise that the industry has made a lot of effort to be a safe, stable infrastructure that holds people’s money. That’s something we need to keep in mind.”

“The CSDs and custodians have created a value chain and that is very powerful for all markets and all the players.

“We should think of new technologies in that term. We have a well functioning industry.” 

One of the running themes of Sibos 2015 has been the use of new technologies – such as blockchain – in the industry in order to improve the efficiency of processes.

Robert-Nicloud, who heads up the clearing and settlement organisation Clearstream, suggested that the industry should take a ‘paranoid’ approach to blockchain.

“I understand the disruptive potential it is set to have,” he added. “Maybe on blockchain we need to be paranoid. It is going to take some years before we see large change to the industry based on blockchain.”

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