The Colombian central securities depository (CSD) Deposito Centralizado de Valores de Colombia (Deceval) has been appointed as the national numbering agency for the country, according to a recent letter from the CSD’s CEO Jorge Hernan Jaramillo Ossa. Deceval will therefore be responsible for allocating six character Classification of Financial Instrument (CFI) codes and 12 character International Securities Identification Number (ISIN) codes for securities in the Colombian market that are subject to the ISO 6166 and ISO 10962 standards.
This will involve the migration of all the existing coding information in the country by the deadline of 23 March and will affect all the agents and market participants in the Colombian and international markets, as well as with respect to all the transactions needed to be settled as of said date. According to the letter, the securities that will be allocated a new code are shares or equivalent securities, all bond certificates, including Colombian Government Certificates and corporate and financial bonds, and all other securities issued in Colombia registered in the National Issuers and Intermediary Registry at the Colombia Finance Superintendence.
Ossa notes: “The cut-over or migration process will begin with the closing of operations at our offices on the 19 of March 2010, and it will be completed on the 22 of March, 2010, a holiday in Colombia. On that same date Deceval will inform all changes to the Substitute Numbering Agency Standard & Poor’s Cusip Service Bureau and ANNA Service Bureau so that all the codes which have previously been assigned or allocated will no longer be valid, as of that date.”
The new codes that have been assigned to securities in the local market will then be communicated to Cusip Service Bureau and ANNA on 22 March and shall be effective for all securities transactions performed as of the 23 March.
