Migration of Issuer CSD services for Irish Securities from CREST to Euroclear Bank

In order to provide long-term certainty to the Irish securities market in light of the UK’s decision to leave the EU, the current issuer CSD services for Irish securities provided by the CREST system (operated by Euroclear UK and Ireland), will migrate to Euroclear Bank by the end of March 2021.

The Euroclear group has provided post-trade services for Irish securities for over 20 years. Euroclear Bank, an international CSD incorporated in Belgium - therefore recognised as an EU27 CSD- has been the settlement provider for Irish government bonds since 2000.

In December 2019, the Migration of Participating Securities Act 2019 (‘the Act’) was passed which allows issuers , subject to the requirements set out in the Act , to seek shareholder approval by special resolution of the migration of their securities from CREST to Euroclear Bank without the need to go through individual schemes of arrangement. The Irish Stock Exchange plc, trading as Euronext Dublin, as the designated ‘Listing Authority’ is required under the Act to carry out the below functions :

Final date for notification that Shareholder resolutions have passed (Section 12(2) of the Act)

• Euronext Dublin must appoint a date by which an issuer that chooses to consent to the migration under the Act and meets the specific requirements, must provide a statement in the prescribed form, as set out in the Act, to the Registrar of Companies. A copy of this statement must also be provided to Euronext Dublin. This statement should be sent by an issuer 21 days after the passing of the special shareholders resolution, or the date set by Euronext Dublin, whichever is the earliest.
• Euronext Dublin can confirm this appointed date to be the 10th March 2021 at 5pm Irish Standard Time (IST).
• An issuer must submit the statement to Euronext Dublin by sending a copy of it by email to csdstatement@euronext.com
• Euronext Dublin has issued the formal order setting out the above date and time, as required by Section 12 of the Migration of Participating Securities Act 2019. A copy of the order is published on this page.

Live Date (Section 12(5) of the Act)

• Euronext Dublin must appoint a date to be the ‘live date’ under the Act. This is the date that the migration of the relevant participating securities in the participating issuer shall take effect on and from.
• Euronext Dublin has appointed this live date as 15^th March 2021 at 00:01 IST. 
• Euronext Dublin has issued the formal order setting out the above date and time, as required by Section 12 of the Migration of Participating Securities Act 2019. A copy of the order is published on this page.

List of Participating Issuers (Section 10(3) of the Act)

• Euronext Dublin shall prepare a list of the participating issuers which have sent a copy of the prescribed statement to it and that list shall be published on this page. The published list will contain the name of the issuer and the nominated CSD in relation to the relevant participating securities.
• This final list is now available to view and download below. 

Download List of Participating Issuers 

*Please note this list details all Irish issuers participating in the Migration of issuer CSD services from CREST to Euroclear Bank using the Act, regardless of place of listing or trading venue. For information on how this will impact trading and settlement, please refer to notices issued by each venue, such as the Corporate Actions notice issued to clients by Euronext Dublin on 10 March 2021.

Other securities migrating on Live Date, not reliant upon the Act.

For informational purposes only, please find below a list of securities that will participate in the migration from CREST to Euroclear Bank on Live Date, but are not reliant upon the Migration of Participating Securities Act 2019 to do so.

Download List of Participating Securities Non MPS

Market Practices for Irish Securities after Migration

Corporate Actions:

Timelines for the management of various corporate actions on Irish securities after migration to Euroclear Bank, are detailed within the below documents. These recommendations are aligned to European standards, as detailed in CAJWG documentation, which can be referenced on the ECB website. Any queries on the management of corporate actions on Irish securities listed on Euronext Dublin should be sent to our dedicated team at Euronext, at the following email address: EMSDublin@euronext.com.

Certificated Shareholders:

For shareholders requiring information on the management of share certificates, including the process description, transfer forms and other information relevant to the process, please contact your broker or refer to the section titled ‘End-to-end mark-up and mark-down share certificate flows’ and the document titled ‘Detailed service description for Irish corporate securities’. This information is stored by Euroclear, and available in the client section of the MyEuroclear website.