Changes introduced in Poland during 2014 include the introduction by the Warsaw Stock Exchange of the WIG50 and WIG250 indexes and agreement on new standardised forms for corporate actions for exchange offers, right issues and tender offers. Developed by brokerage houses and custodian banks, the new forms and required information and method of its transmission are expected to simplify the handling of corporate action events.

Partial settlement and netting services in securities for cash market clearing have been introduced (KDPW_CCP), although participation in the service is not mandatory, while the national depository for securities (KDPW) changed the settlement cycle to T+2 as of October for shares, rights to shares, depository receipts, ETFs and investment certificates.

Also in October, KDPW_CCP implemented a negotiated securities lending and borrowing service, while other developments in 2014 included KDPW as the numbering agency starting to assign FISN codes and the implementation of trade repository KDPW_TR to meet Emir requirements.

“The main change to be introduced in 2015 is that custodians and brokers will be tax paying agents for withholding tax on dividend and validity of certificate of residence one year from issue date,” says Jerzy Kałowski, global banking & markets, global transactional banking/custody & securities services Bank Zachodni WBK (Santander Group).