Roger Storm, CEO Euroclear Sweden, summarizes 2020

What have been your key priorities since joining Euroclear Sweden?

- I have been focusing on meeting our  clients, the staff and other business partners. There are a number of movements in the market that we are engaged in, such as the dialogue in Sweden about a harmonisation of the post-trade model towards a European one, and the CSDR Settlement Discipline rules that will come in January 2022. 

How has the pandemic affected Euroclear Sweden?

- Our primary concern is the health and safety of our staff and business continuity.  Since March, Euroclear Sweden has activated extensive home working for the majority of staff. I am very impressed with how quickly Euroclear Sweden adapted to the new ways of working under the COVID-circumstances and managed to deliver the same high level of quality services. We have managed 100% uptime over the past half year, delivered on projects and worked on our cyber resilience. Throughout the year we have been doing our outmost to be there for our clients. 

What have been the main accomplishments during 2020?

- Euroclear Sweden has worked with limited companies’ General Meetings for many years. Following the pandemic situation, we have conducted a large amount of General Meetings and helped them transition to a digital format. One key addition was the digital postal voting that we launched, enabling shareholders to actively participate in General Meetings without having to be physically present.  September 3 2020, we delivered SRD II related services to issuers in the areas of shareholder identification and notifications for general meetings. Several Issuers have already utilized our services and we foresee an increased activity when looking forward in to 2021.

What are your top priorities for 2021? 

- First and foremost, we must assure that our services and staff get through the pandemic in full health. Second, we will enhance our focus on issuers, and we have some exciting things in the pipeline for them. We will also continue to engage in efforts of harmonizing the Swedish securities markets in line with the rest of the EU. This requires a collective effort of the industry to succeed and is a multi-year effort, but we expect to take several steps next year already. Our main obligation remains however to be a trusted provider and partner, for securities issuers and savers, investors and their agents, particularly in these unusual and difficult times. 

 I would like to take the opportunity before the Christmas holiday to thank all our clients and partners and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.