Overview

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is an American financial market infrastructure company that provides clearing, settlement and trade reporting services to financial market participants. It performs the exchange of securities on behalf of buyers and sellers and functions as a central securities depository by providing central custody of securities.

DTCC was established in 1999 as a holding company to combine the Depository Trust Company (DTC) and National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC). User-owned and directed, it automates, centralizes, standardizes, and streamlines processes in the capital markets. Through its subsidiaries, DTCC provides clearance, settlement, and information services for equities, corporate and municipal bonds, unit investment trusts, government and mortgage-backed securities, money market instruments, and over-the-counter derivatives.

It also manages transactions between mutual funds and insurance carriers and their respective investors.

In 2022, DTCC settled the vast majority of securities transactions in the United States and $2.50 quadrillion in value worldwide, making it by far the highest financial value processor in the world. DTCC operates facilities in the New York metropolitan area, and at multiple locations in and outside the United States.

History

DTCC was established in 1999 as a holding company to combine The Depository Trust Company (DTC) and National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC).

In 2008, The Clearing Corporation (CCorp) and The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation announced CCorp members will benefit from CCorp's netting and risk management processes, and will leverage the asset servicing capabilities of DTCC's Trade Information Warehouse for credit default swaps (CDS).

On 1 July 2010, it was announced that DTCC had acquired all of the shares of Avox Limited, based in Wrexham, North Wales. Deutsche Börse had previously held over 76% of the shares. On 20 March 2017, it was announced that Thomson Reuters acquired Avox.

DTC

Established in 1973, it was created to reduce costs and provide efficiencies by immobilizing securities and making "book-entry" changes to show ownership of the securities. DTC moves securities for NSCC's net settlements, and settlement for institutional trades (which typically involve money and securities transfers between custodian banks and broker-dealers), as well as money market instruments. In 2022, DTC processed $2.5 quadrillion in transactions.

In addition to settlement services, DTC retains custody of 3.5 million securities issues valued at $87.1 trillion, including securities issued in the United States and more than 170 other countries. DTC is a member of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, and a registered clearing agency with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Most large U.S. broker-dealers and banks are full DTC participants, meaning that they deposit and hold securities at DTC. DTC appears in an issuer's stock records as the sole registered owner of securities deposited at DTC. DTC holds the deposited securities in "fungible bulk", meaning that there are no specifically identifiable shares directly owned by DTC participants. Rather, each participant owns a pro rata interest in the aggregate number of shares of a particular issuer held at DTC.

Correspondingly, each customer of a DTC participant, such as an individual investor, owns a pro rata interest in the shares in which the DTC participant has an interest.

Because the securities held by DTC are for the benefit of its participants and their customers (i.e., investors holding their securities at a broker-dealer), frequently the issuer and its transfer agent must interact with DTC in order to facilitate the distribution of dividend payments to investors, to facilitate corporate actions (i.e., mergers, splits, etc.), to effect the transfer of securities, and to accurately record the number of shares actually owned by DTC at all times.

NSCC

The National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) is the original clearing corporation, and provides clearing and serves as the central counterparty for trades in the U.S. securities markets. It was an outgrowth of multilateral netting, which led to the formation of the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) in 1976.

Established in 1976, it provides clearing, settlement, risk management, central counterparty services, and a guarantee of completion for certain transactions for virtually all broker-to-broker trades involving equities, corporate and municipal debt, American depositary receipts, exchange-traded funds, and unit investment trusts. NSCC also nets trades and payments among its participants, reducing the value of securities and payments that need to be exchanged by an average of 98% each day. NSCC generally clears and settles trades on a "T+1" basis.

NSCC has roughly 4,000 participants, and is regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

FICC

The Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) provides clearing for fixed income securities, including treasury securities and mortgage backed securities

FICC was created in 2003 to handle fixed income transaction processing, integrating the Government Securities Clearing Corporation and the Mortgage-Backed Securities Clearing Corporation. The Government Securities Division (GSD) provides real-time trade matching (RTTM), clearing, risk management, and netting for trades in U.S. government debt issues, including repurchase agreements or repos. Securities transactions processed by FICC's Government Securities Division include Treasury bills, bonds, notes, zero-coupon securities, government agency securities, and inflation-indexed securities.

The Mortgage-Backed Securities Division provides real-time automated and trade matching, trade confirmation, risk management, netting, and electronic pool notification to the mortgage-backed securities market. Participants in this market include mortgage originators, government-sponsored enterprises, registered broker-dealers, institutional investors, investment managers, mutual funds, commercial banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions.