Euroclear ready to expand in Asia

Euroclear ready to expand in Asia

LONDON (Reuter): Euroclear said it is to expand its coverage
of the Asia-Pacific debt markets with the acceptance of
Indonesian, Malaysian and Thai domestic debt securities.

The additions bring to eight the number of markets covered by
Euroclear services in Asia, a statement said.

Thai debt securities (corporate, government and state agency
debt) are eligible in the system from Sept. 9. Indonesian
(corporate and state agency debt) and Malaysian (corporate,
government, Bank Negara and Cagamas debt) securities will become
eligible on Sept. 30.

Euroclear said its services will include clearance, custody
and settlement.

Participants will be able to settle their transactions against
payment or free of payment with other participants and with
counterparties from the local market.

Certain debt securities will also be eligible across the
Euroclear bridge with Cedel.

The depositary and cash correspondent for Indonesia and
Malaysia will be Deutsche Bank, with Bangkok Bank for Thailand.

Euroclear said participants would benefit from multi-currency
settlement against any of the 35 currencies accepted in the
Euroclear system, competitive fees, real-time matching results
and a full range of custody and tax services.

Euroclear said the potential activity in the Asian markets was
"impressive".

The World Bank has predicted that the Thai bond market will be
the fastest growing in Asia through the middle of the next
decade, expanding from 10 percent of gross national product at
the end of 1994 to 35 percent by the year 2004.

Euroclear said it currently serves more than 2,500 participant
organizations in 80 countries.