CDC issues guidance on the use of Roshan Digital Account to facilitate investment in PSX

September 21, 2020 (MLN): The Central Depositary Company (CDC) has released detailed information regarding the process flows of investment in stock market by Non Resident Pakistan (NRP) through Roshan Digital Account (RDA), in order to facilitate them on its use.

Flow 1: Account opening

According to CDC’s document, NRP shall approach any of the designated Bank’s online portal and submits details and soft copies of documents to Bank through portal. On the basis of the information provided by NRP, designated bank will perform its own KYC and due diligence and confirm the status of account opening to the NRP in 48 hours.

After opening of the RDA, Bank will provide NRP the option of investing in the following asset classes:

· Naya Pakistan Certificates

· Stocks (equities, debt, others)

In case NRP selects “Stocks/CDC” for the mode of investment, Bank will ask the NRP to give consent to allow the bank to share his/her information and soft copies of documents with CDC and subsequently with other Stock market entities. It will then obtain agreement of NRP on terms & conditions of Custody and Trading Accounts and will ask the NRP to accept the terms & conditions, and then select a brokerage house.

Following that, the Bank will transmit the aforementioned details and soft copies of documents of NRP along with IBAN to CDC (through API or other electronic mechanism). CDC will then send an email intimation to NRP of receiving the information from the Bank, and will transmit the information and soft copies of documents to the respective brokerage house and to NCCPL for opening of UIN.

Subsequently, brokerage house will perform their own due diligence and confirm to NRP and CDC regarding the opening of trading account (CKO is exempted for all such accounts) within 24 hours / one business day, along with the details of online trading portal. The information received from CDC will suffice all the information required by the Broker for opening of Trading account, and CDC will also confirm to Brokerage house that NRP has given his/her consent for opening of Trading account with the Broker. The confirmation from the Broker regarding the opening of Trading account will constitute as the acceptance of the offer of NRP.

Broker may also refuse to open the account of NRP, at its sole discretion. In case there is no response from Broker within 24 hours or refusal from Broker to open the account, CDC will contact the Broker/NRP and request for future course of action from him. Broker may also request for more documents from NRP directly to perform Enhance Due Diligence (EDD). It may also take further confirmations from NRP directly like confirmation on fee structure, etc., after opening of Trading account.

Flow 2: If the designated Bank of NRP is directly offering Custodial Services (SCRA Model)

Designated Bank should clearly specify on its web portal/app regarding the availability of the following two options, if Bank is offering both the options to the NRP i.e. Custodial Services through Bank (Direct Bank Model) and Custodial Services through CDC (CDC Direct Settlement Service).

In case where NRP opts for option 1, Bank will transmit the data to CDC through an API specifically marked for this option. As soon as CDC receives the data from Bank, CDC will intimate the NRP regarding the receipt of data and will inform him/her that the received data will be passed on for further processing to the selected Broker, NCCPL and Bank for the creation of CDC account, Trading account and UIN.

Flow 3: If NRP wants to trade through CDC DSS

In this case, in parallel to the opening of Trading account with Broker, CDC will also open the IAS account and confirm regarding the same to NRP and brokerage house in 24 hours and share the details of CDC access with the NRP. In this case, CDC will only be responsible for the clearing & settlement of trades executed through respective broker.

Buy Transaction:

To initiate the first purchase request, NRP will transfer the amount online to CDC from his/her RDA account (or instruct the bank to do so); immediately the same will start reflecting on the portal/app of the brokerage house. Now, NRP can purchase the securities through portal/app of brokerage house.

After a purchase transaction is executed by NRP, CDC will receive a notification from NCCPL (IDS) to accept the trade, and CDC, after performing “pre matching”, will accept the trade. At settlement date (T+2), CDC will give the cash to NCCPL and receive the purchased securities in the IAS Account of the NRP. CDC will also notify the NRP regarding the completion of the settlement process. CDC will also provide the details of the settlement to the respective bank of the NRP where the RDA was opened, so the bank can have complete reconciliation available regarding the usage of funds of RDA.

Sell Transaction:

After the completion of the purchase transaction, securities will be immediately available on the portal/app of the Brokerage house. NRP can sell the securities through Brokerage house portal/app. After the execution of the sale transaction, trade details will come to CDC through IDS, and CDC will accept the settlement obligation after pre matching.

At T+2, CDC will receive the cash from NCCPL and handover the securities to NCCPL. It will then transfer the cash to the RDA account of the NRP with complete details of the trade (price, no. of shares, etc., even the reconciliation with the earlier purchase transaction), so that the bank can have full confidence that the receiving amount is legitimate and against the same earlier remitted amount of the NRP.

Same process will be followed for all trades of NRP. All corporate actions will be credited in the IAS account of NRP with CDC except cash dividend. Cash dividends will be credited in the checking account of CDC, and CDC will subsequently credit the cash to the respective RDA accounts of NRPs. All other charges—such as payment of broker commission and CGT to NCCPL—will be made by CDC.

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