Towards a Global Financial Register? The Case for End Investor Transparency in Central Securities Depositories

摘要

The perception of rising wealth inequality has led to calls for the creation of a centraldatabase on worldwide ownership of financial assets, in other words a ‘global financialregister’. Economists Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman have proposed that this registerbe built using the databases of the large Western central securities depositories(CSDs), such as DTC, Euroclear, and Clearstream. The work of these economists havingbeen extensively echoed, this article examines the viability of their proposal regardingCSDs. At present, most CSDs in advanced economies are based on ‘street name’registration or ‘omnibus’ accounts, ie they do not identify the end investors of securities.The CSD model evolved in that way because of the depth of the intermediationchain, growth in cross-border securities investment and continuing regulatory fragmentationalong national lines. Yet at the same time, a number of arguments militate in favourof end investor transparency in these institutions. Transparent CSDs already existin smaller Western economies, as well as in some of the largest emerging market economies.End investor transparency would produce benefits in the area of corporate governance,by facilitating direct corporate communications. Perhaps most importantly, itwould respond to important public interest objectives already being pursued in thefields of taxation, anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance. From a normativestandpoint, therefore, this article presents the case for greater transparency in financialmarket infrastructure, through end investor account segregation in the CSDs.