Electronic global notes: preparing for the digitised era
There are three possibilities to issue securities in Clearstream’s ICSD: as traditional paper-based instruments, as immobilised instruments (global notes) or as fully digital or dematerialised instruments (electronic global notes, e-GNs).
With the joint introduction of e-GNs in June 2024, Clearstream and Euroclear further digitalise the issuance process of international securities, thus reducing time to market and creating operational efficiencies across the securities lifecycle: the adoption of paperless issuance, coupled with the electronic signing and authentication of e-GNs, as well as their storage in digital vaults, eliminates the necessity for physical safekeeping of paper documentation in traditional vaults.
In a first step, this fully dematerialised issuance option applies to a selection of registered securities under the New Safekeeping Structure (NSS) governed by English law and issued by non-governmental issuers (i.e., corporates and financial institutions) located in England and Wales, or all supranational issuers (where that supranational issuer does not have a jurisdiction of incorporation).
Although established physical securities will co-exist alongside e-GNs, Clearstream strongly recommends the adoption of the electronic alternative, as the industry progressively evolves towards the prevalence of electronic flows.