Towards a Maltese central securities depository legislation.

Abstract

Securities clearing and settlement is not an especially glamorous topic that would, on its own, attract a large amount of interest. However one must appreciate that any market's ability to mobilise domestic resources through securities essentially depends upon that market's ability to produce a safe and effective means of buying and selling securities, coupled with an equally safe and efficient system of payment. Hence the relevance of clearance and settlement. The necessity for an efficient clearance and settlement system is further accentuated by the fact that, in a number of markets, manual systems can no longer cope with the volume and the nature of the bargains effected. Clearance and settlement, when put against a legal background, are sure to raise a large number of interesting points of principle. The scope of this thesis is: * to introduce the reader to the latest developments in clearance and settlement; * to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of having a Central Securities Depository (hereinafter referred to as CSD; * to try and identify possible legal problems that could come about in the course of the CSD operations; * to seek solutions for the just mentioned problems; * to focus on the local scene; * to propose a legal and regulatory framework for the functioning of a CSD.