Clearstream Banking SA

Clearstream Banking SA is one of two world-leading international central securities depositories, the other one being Euroclear Bank. It is a fully owned subsidiary of the Clearstream Group, itself part of Deutsche Börse Group.

The Centrale de Livraison de Valeurs Mobilières (lit. 'central securities delivery [company]'), generally referred to as Cedel, was established on 28 September 1970, by 66 of the world's major financial institutions as a clearing organisation whose objective was to minimise risk in the settlement of cross-border securities trading, particularly in the growing Eurobond market. It was a direct response to the creation a few years earlier of the Euroclear System by American bank Morgan Guaranty in Brussels. At least initially, Euroclear was viewed as largely aligned with buy side interests whereas Cedel was closer to the sell side.

In 1995, a new corporate structure was introduced, establishing a parent company, Cedel International, while Cedel in Luxembourg was granted a banking license. In 1997, a new subsidiary, Cedel Global Services, was established.

On 2 November 1999, Cedel International signed an agreement with Deutsche Börse to merge Cedel with the latter's CSD arm, Deutsche Börse Clearing (DBC). This was initially intended as part of a three-way merger together with France's Sicovam, but the latter pulled out later that month. The merger was completed on 1 January 2000, and the name Clearstream was adopted nine days later by the new entity owned jointly by Cedel International (50 percent) and Deutsche Börse (50 percent). Following protracted discussions, Cedel International agreed on 1 February 2002 to sell its stake to Deutsche Börse. Clearstream thus became a fully owned subsidiary of Deutsche Börse on 1 July 2002.

The "Clearstream affair" was a political controversy in the run-up to the 2007 French presidential election.

In 2008, several groups of plaintiffs commenced enforcement proceedings in the US to satisfy judgments which they had obtained against Iran by restraining certain positions held in a Clearstream securities account with its intermediary bank in the US, and asking for handover of the assets. Clearstream challenged the restraints and the handover.

In 2011, the plaintiffs filed additional claims, this time directly against Clearstream, for damages of USD 250 million in connection with the purported wrongful conveyance of some of the restrained positions. Clearstream entered into a settlement agreement with the plaintiffs that became effective in 2013. The settlement provided for the dismissal of the direct claims against Clearstream, and that the plaintiffs will not further sue Clearstream for damages and in return, Clearstream agreed to not further appeal an order directing the turnover of the restrained customer's assets to the plaintiffs.

In 2013, a number of US plaintiffs from the 2011 case, as well as other US plaintiffs, filed a complaint targeting certain blocked assets that Clearstream holds as a custodian in Luxembourg. In 2015, the US court issued a decision dismissing the lawsuit.