Acceso usuarios
Phoebus Athanassiou
In the wake of the second decade of the 21st Century, European securities markets remain fragmented along national borders in terms of the rules, procedures and practices that regulated markets in different Member States apply for the primary issuance and distribution of transferable securities. This paper explores how the creation of a European Central Securities Depository for the primary issuance and distribution of securities across the European Union could help overcome fragmentation in the primary issuance market. We conclude that, even if desirable, the creation of a European Central Securities Depository could only achieve its objectives in combination with the introduction of a de minimis body of European private securities law to complement and render its creation meaningful and effective. It is the introduction of precisely such a body of law that would represent the most significant (even if only indirect) contribution of a European Central Securities Depository towards more harmonisation in primary issuance processes across the European Union.
