Congresswoman Kathy Castor of Florida in the House of Representatives congratulated DTCC for its 50th anniversary on May 11, 2023. Below is the full transcript of her remarks.
Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the world's leading post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, on its 50th anniversary. DTCC is a trusted employer in the Tampa Bay area and across the globe. An accomplishment that few firms ever achieve, this is a truly significant milestone not just for DTCC, but the industry as a whole.
Originally founded in 1973 as The Depository Trust Company (DTC), this firm was established to address a multitude of issues which had been plaguing the global financial services throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. During this time, Wall Street dealt with countless amounts of paper every day--so much so that at one point, the U.S. markets actually stopped trading one day a week so that firms could catch up on their paperwork. This led to systems being slow, inefficient and dated, and runners having to carry paper checks and physical securities between firms.
To address this paperwork crisis, Congress charged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with the task of investigating and addressing the underlying causes of the issue. The laws and solutions that resulted from this action have profoundly shaped the clearance and settlement process we use today and ultimately led to the creation of DTC as an industry utility. A true pioneer in the industry, DTC streamlined back-office operations, introduced a computerized book entry accounting system and used technology to eliminate reliance on paper stock certificates. Through its creation of the first electronic security, DTC effectively launched the modern financial services marketplace.
DTCC has had incredible growth since its foundation in 1973. Operating across 21 global locations, DTCC automates, centralizes and standardizes the processing of financial transactions. In addition to DTC, the firm has two subsidiaries, The National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) and The Fixed Income Clearing Corporation. Designated as Systemically Important Financial Market Utilities (SIFMU) by the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), these three clearing agency subsidiaries play a critical role in protecting the safety and stability of the global financial system.
DTCC's accomplishments include introducing multi-lateral netting, which significantly streamlined settlement and reduced risk; automating clearing and settling trades in U.S. Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities in the world's largest fixed income market; delivering greater efficiency, cost savings and risk mitigation to institutional trading and investors; and improving the data reporting landscape for the DTC derivatives business.
I commend and am particularly grateful to DTCC for the critical role it has played in providing stability and certainty for the global financial markets in times of crisis, including the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, the 2008 Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. In spite of these systemic shocks, DTCC ensured that the markets continued to operate seamlessly.
Over the past 50 years, DTCC has earned its reputation as a trusted steward by driving innovation, embracing technology and creating new products and services to protecting the safety and stability of the financial markets. Today, the firm continues to drive positive change by leading large-scale, industry-wide initiatives to strengthen market structure.
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my neighbors in Tampa Bay and the citizens of Florida, I congratulate The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation on this remarkable achievement that is its 50th anniversary and wish it many more years of success in protecting the investing public.
This statement was originally published to the Congressional Record Vol. 169, No. 80 on Thursday, May 11, 2023.