Taiwan Depository & Clearing Corporation

As global capital markets continue to thrive, interest in overseas securities among Taiwanese investors has reached new heights. In 2024, the total trading volume of overseas securities surpassed NT$7 trillion—a record-breaking figure. To safeguard these growing offshore assets, Taiwan Depository & Clearing Corporation (TDCC), under the guidance of the Securities and Futures Bureau of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), joined forces with 15 securities firms last year to form Team Taiwan of Sub-brokerage Cross-Border Custody services. This initiative aims to gradually transfer the custody of overseas assets—previously held by international custodians or foreign brokers to TDCC. As of April this year, the total value of assets under custody has exceeded NT$100 billion and continues to rise steadily, and the company aims to expand its cross-border custody services this year by covering more than 50% of all sub-brokerage positions in the domestic market.

TDCC Chairman Bing-Huei Lin expressed that TDCC has seen significant progress in promoting localized cross-border custody services with enthusiastic support from brokers. Following the initial large-scale asset transfers by KGI Securities and Hua Nan Securities in December 2024, more brokers have joined the initiative this year. Notable participants now include KGI Securities, Cathay Securities, SinoPac Securities, Fubon Securities, Capital Securities and Mega Securities, all of which have begun transferring their positions to TDCC. Among them, KGI Securities’ full migration of U.S. equities in March stands out as a milestone. Brokers are now actively coordinating schedules to accelerate the pace of asset transfers. As of today, the total market value of assets under custody at TDCC has exceeded NT$120 billion. The range of securities under custody spans stocks, bonds, ETFs, and structured notes, covering major international markets such as the U.S., Japan, and Singapore.

TDCC has fully optimized our cross-border custody system to provide a more efficient and user-friendly operating environment for brokers. Taking corporate actions and the administration of shareholder services—an area most critical to investor interests—as an example, over 60 types of CA events have now been automated, achieving a completion rate of more than 97%. In addition, more than 30 types of reports and data files are now available for brokers to subscribe to on demand, enabling real-time access and downloads tailored to their operational needs. To support the increasing trading volumes handled by brokers, TDCC has also expanded its SWIFT message transmission capacity, increasing the bandwidth for domestic-to-international instruction flows by fivefold, significantly enhancing the efficiency of cross-border settlement and corporate action processing.

Once brokers transfer their positions to TDCC, they not only benefit from preferential custody fees that significantly reduce operational costs, but also gain from having a single domestic point of contact. TDCC handles direct communication with international custodians such as Euroclear, Clearstream, JPMorgan and Citi, enabling faster issue resolution and providing brokers with access to an international team of professionals offering real-time support. This enhances the security and protection of investors' offshore assets, creating a win-win outcome for brokers and investors.

Looking ahead, as more brokers come on board and experience the high-quality, seamless service, the overall competitiveness of Taiwanese investors in global markets is set to rise. This momentum also presents a new opportunity for Team Taiwan for cross-border custody services, helping to drive the development of the Asian Asset Management Center.