The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has undertaken the reengineering of its core systems for securities underwriting and corporate actions processing for the U.S. financial services industry.

The initiative will create a single new platform, replacing more than 60 separate underwriting and corporate actions legacy systems that have evolved over the past three decades. The integrated platform will streamline processing, generate further efficiencies, reduce costs and provide greater flexibility — dramatically transforming how these systems manage information.

DTCC's goal is to build a robust, integrated platform that embeds straight-through processing (STP) procedures for U.S. and international securities from origination through maturity, known as "cradle to grave." The new platform will allow comprehensive corporate action information to be captured during the underwriting process, so that the information can later be used to support automated corporate action announcements, helping to eliminate the need for manual input and processing.

This new platform, a major overhaul of DTCC's core depository processing systems, will be capable of handling increasingly sophisticated types of securities — both U.S. and international — while simultaneously supporting an array of new asset servicing requirements and complex corporate actions, processing increasing volumes and supporting international messaging standards.

DTCC plays an integral role in the underwriting of virtually every U.S. security and processes corporate actions on the $36 trillion worth of securities held at its depository, handling dividends, principal, interest and reorganizations. International securities from more than 100 countries and territories represent roughly 16% of the overall value held on deposit, with issues including global bonds and American and Global Depositary Receipts. In 2006, DTCC's depository subsidiary processed a record $4.4 trillion in underwriting distributions, and a record $3.3 trillion worth of corporate actions.

Customer Impact

DTCC has conducted extensive customer outreach in the development of this initiative to better understand changes in the market environment and new technology requirements, and to anticipate continued growth in transaction volumes. This outreach has involved industry forums and advisory committees whose participants have specialized knowledge and expertise in these areas.

The development of the new platform is a multi-year effort, with features introduced in major phases as they are ready for industry testing. Preliminary testing of the underwriting component began in late 2006, with a launch scheduled for 2008. The first phase of the corporate action component will begin testing in the 3rd quarter of 2009. (For more information on the Transition Plan please see the link to the Corporate Actions technical documentation on this site). The new platform will offer multi-currency processing, ISO 15022 messaging formats and international identification numbers, such as ISIN.