YEREVAN, January 13. / ARKA /. Thanks to securities nominee account opened with Clearstream Banking Luxemburg of Clearstream Deutsche Börse Group the Central Depository of Armenia (CDA) will be performing settlement, registry keeping and servicing of foreign securities transactions in Armenia, NASDAQOMXArmenia stock exchange reported.

Introduction of link with Clearstream provides Armenian investors with opportunity to invest in securities of 53 developed and developing countries around the world, while the CDA ensures servicing of transactions, registry keeping and custody, including registration of ownership rights towards foreign securities.

“This achievement will allow circulation of foreign securities locally, in particular, making Armenian Eurobonds accessible to Armenian investors as well. Moreover, in Armenia process of investing in foreign securities lacked such separation of securities custody and brokerage operations, which is now introduced to the market and will contribute to reduction of risks and elimination of possible conflict of interests between broker and investor,” said Vahan Stepanyan, CEO, Central Depository of Armenia.

Armenia’s first-ever Eurobonds were sold on international markets on September 19 at a relatively high yield of at least 6 percent, reflecting Armenia’s “junk” credit ratings assigned by agencies like Moody’s and Fitch.

The Armenian finance ministry described the sale as a huge success, saying that investors were ready to buy as much as $3 billion worth of Armenian external bonds. The underwriters were e Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Bank plc and JPMorgan Securities plc.

Clearstream Banking SA is a settlement and clearing organization based in Luxembourg and Frankfurt.

It provides storage of securities, as well as clearing and settlement of securities transactions (stocks, bonds and shares of investment funds). It was formed in 2000 through the merger of Cedel and the clearinghouse Deutsche Boerse Clearing; On July 2002 it came under the full control of Deutsche Boerse AG. The system consists of three divisions: Clearstream Banking Frankfurt, Clearstream Banking Luxembourg and Clearstream Services.

The Central Depository of Armenia (CDA ), the only centralized custodian and registrar in Armenia, is a subsidiary of NASDAQ OMX Armenia and part of NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. -0-