Deutsche Bank Securities Services has pressed the go button for its successfully piloted distributed ledger technology (DLT) solution – “to enable further automation of custodial services”.

Reforming European shareholder information disclosure, in line with SRD II, will be the first regular implementation of the bank’s DLT solution, with more services described as possible in the future.

According to a press release from Deutsche Bank Securities Services on Tuesday, the technology has proven successful in the pilot phase, and is now being used to provide increased transparency regarding global beneficial ownership.

Tax processing gets simpler

“The solution addresses the transparency requirements within many custodial services, such as around the tax processing of asset holdings at an ultimate beneficial owner level, and streamlines complex data and reconciliation processes for both the bank and its clients,” the bank writes – and continues:

“Currently, this level of information is not generally disclosed to, or captured by, sub- custodians, with data provided in spreadsheets as and when needed and across multiple levels of disclosure.”

Dealer desk could be next

The first implementation has served to make over the European shareholder information disclosure for global and sub-custodians, and is intended to be rolled out into other regions where the organisation is operating. This is in line with the new edition of the EU Shareholder Rights Directive, SRD II.

“Going forward, it could also be used by broker dealers to provide desk-level transparency, especially important as the industry becomes more focused on disciplining inefficient trade settlement performance through measures such as settlement failure penalties, as stipulated in the Central Securities Depository Regulation,” Deutsche Bank states further in its press release.