New User Committee at VP SECURITIES facilitates customer-focused business development

VP SECURITIES (VP) filed its application for a licence under the new EU regulation for CSDs (CSDR) earlier this year, and a working user committee representing different customer segments is mandatory in order to achieve this approval. VP is therefore now announcing the members of its User Committee. The chairman is Frank Nielsen, Assistant Governor, Banking and Markets, Danmarks Nationalbank, which is Denmark’s central bank. The User Committee also includes senior executives from Danske Bank, Nordea, Sydbank, Citibank, Handelsbanken, Nykredit and Bankinvest. VP welcomes the User Committee as a strategic forum to align business development with customer needs in the changing landscape of CSDs.

“The User Committee comprises representatives from key customer profiles at VP,” says chairman Frank Nielsen. “We have representation from Danish custodian banks such as Sydbank, Nordic custodian banks such as Nordea, Handelsbanken and Danske Bank, and from international custodian banks such as Citibank. Nykredit and Bankinvest representing major issuing market participants. The User Committee’s role in relation to VP has elements of control, and the User Committee has the right to express it opinion to the Board of Directors regarding VP’s price structure, for example. However, we will also use our direct link to VP’s management to strengthen the already healthy relationship between the financial industry and VP.”

VP already hosts an array of fora for customer dialogue, with the national T2S user group as a key example. The newly appointed User Committee will be able to guide VP from a more strategic and international perspective and in the eyes of Birger Schmidt, Chief Commercial Officer at VP, this is a significant step:

“This is a strong User Committee with influential executives from some of our most important customers. It is business critical for us to further develop our relationships with clients in Denmark, in the Nordics and globally. The next years will be crucial for CSDs, as the effects of T2S and new European regulation kick in, and we need to stay very agile in our responses to customer needs. Maintaining and strengthening the Nordic capital market is to some extent also a question of ensuring that the Nordic infrastructure for issuing, settlement and safekeeping remains highly competitive. The User Committee is a key forum for this ongoing effort in business development,” says Birger Schmidt.

The members of the User Committee are:

• Chairman Frank Nielsen, Assistant Governor, Banking and Markets, Danmarks Nationalbank
• Magnus Fageräng, Business CIO, Capital Markets, Handelsbanken
• Henrik Hjortshøj, Head of Group Treasury, Nykredit
• Christina Larsen, Managing Director, BI Management, Bankinvest
• Ola Mjørud, Securities Country Manager, Citi 
• Gorm Praefke, Managing Director, Nordea Markets, Nordea
• Lars Sjögren, Global Head of Transaction Banking, Danske Bank
• Niels Skylvad, Director, Funds & International, Sydbank