Meetings and Events

MINUTES OF THE ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING

OF THE ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL NUMBERING AGENCIES

 

HELD IN NICOSIA ON MAY 25 & 26, 2000

 

Host: Cyprus Stock Exchange

Venue: Hotel Hilton - Cyprus

Participants present

Members represented by powers of attorney

Guests

1. Opening & Welcome

 

1.1 Welcome addresses were held by: Mr Nondas C. Metaxas, General Manager of the Cyprus Stock Exchange; Mr Takis Clerides, Minister of Finance; Mr Paris Lenas, President of the Cyprus Stock Exchange and Mr Niels W. Hougaard, Chairman of ANNA.

 

2. Roll call of Delegates

 

2.1 31 Members were present and 13 Members were represented by proxy. 44 of the 60 members (i.e. 73%) were present in person/by proxy satisfying the quorum requirements of the Articles of Incorporation.

 

3. Adoption of the Agenda

 

3.1 The Board recommended altering the order of certain points on the agenda. The suggestions were discussed and following agenda unanimously adopted:

 

Report from the Chairman

Financial Reports and Forecast (ANNA and GIAM)

Presentation by Michael Atkin (S.I.I.A.)

Report from the Convenor of Task Force16 (ANNA Strategic Business Plan)

Election of two Board Members

Report from the Convenor of WG4 (Emerging ANNA Members)

Reports from other Working Groups (WGs) and Task Forces (TFs)

Miscellaneous

Next Meeting

Closure

 

3.2 C. Krohn (Vaerdipapircentralen – VP) and S. Preiss (Cusip Service Bureau) were proposed by NWH for the drafting committee.

 

3.3 D. Ooghe (Euroclear Operations Center) and D. Kuhnel (Clearstream Banking) were appointed as vote tellers to check the vote result on the various resolutions.

 

4. Report from the Chairman

 

4.1 NWH reported on the many activities of the Board since the last General Meeting (GM). The Board had participated in three TF16 meetings, the results of which were discussed under point 7 below, “Report from the Convenor of TF16”. The Board had also participated in conferences such as International Securities Settlement and GSTP, where many industry representatives had requested more formal contact with ANNA. The Board had also released a new GIAM CD. The Board had finally been in contact with a number of new potential data vendor clients, incl. SWIFT and one existing client (Reuters).

 

4.2 NWH reviewed the industry concerns with ANNA raised at the last ANNA General Meeting by various associations, including GSTPA. He reported that there had been much movement by these groups since then, including SWIFT’s “AXION 4 GSTP” (SWIFT’s plan for a transaction flow manager) and ISITC’s invitation to ANNA to join this group.

 

5. Financial Reports and Forecast (ANNA and GIAM)

 

5.1 GE commenced his presentation of the accounts (i.e. ‘Results 1998/1999 and Financial Forecast 2000’) for both ANNA and GIAM.

 

5.2 There were several additional NNA comments. Then the general meeting voted on the following resolution:

 

Resolution 1 - Financial report 1999

The ANNA members adopt the annual accounts for 1999.

The resolution was adopted.

 

5.3 GE completed his presentation on financials and answered a series of questions from DO and FH regarding the justification behind some of the forecasted expenses. NWH and JT supported GE in his justification of the expenses represented by Ray Reardon. The Members then debated the figures whereupon they agreed to postpone all further discussion of forecasted figures until the Extraordinary General Meeting.

 

6. Presentation by Michael Atkin (S.I.I.A.)

 

6.1 At the invitation of the Board, MA conducted a presentation entitled “Will ISIN Survive STP?”. The overheads used as well as MA’s speech notes can be downloaded from the following website: www.fisd.net

 

6.2 MA emphasised the significant level of manual intervention and failed trades related to ISIN and identification standards and urged the group to recognize the global industry’s lack of patience with this condition. He stated that the failure of ANNA to respond in a proactive manner would force market participants to seek alternatives to ISIN.

 

6.3 MA concluded with SIIA/FISD’s support of the objectives of TF16, including a standard service level agreement, a single ISIN distribution platform and the creation of a User Group to effectively address quality problems.

 

6.4 NWH concluded that the Members now recognise the need to take steps towards improving their ability to accommodate the needs of the industry.

 

7. Report from the Convenor of TF16 (ANNA Strategic Business Plan)

 

7.1 NY presented the members of TF16: NY, TA,GE, DO, LL, HN, DK, AD, JT, NWH, UM, FZ, and Moika Perko from Slovenia and mentioned CK’s participation at the meeting on April 10.

 

7.2 NY outlined the Scope of TF16 as the formulation of a strategic business plan for ANNA. NY then classified industry requirements as being data quality, membership commitment and process efficiency and outlined TF16’s proposals as to how these requirements could be met. NY concluded with TF16’s solutions: a common vision as set forth in 5 Mission Statements; a service level agreement so called Letter of Understanding for NNA’s to comply with ISO-6166; establishment of a User Group; the creation of an ANNA Service Bureau (ASB) offering adequate permanent access to users; and a common product enabling all NNAs to participate.

 

7.3 JT presented the proposed ASB. JT outlined ANNA’s primary objectives, strengths and weaknesses and compared these with the concerns of the global securities industry. ANNA thus faced a decision tree of either continuing on its current path or outsourcing or allowing the industry to determine its future course. JT then presented TSP’s proposed alliance between these entities and ANNA for the mutual benefit of all NNA’s and the industry at-large.

 

7.4 The members decided to vote on the following resolution:

 

Resolution 2

The Members agree to direct the Board to enter into a letter of intent with Telekurs and Standard&Poors to continue the development of the ANNA Service Bureau, including a draft Service Level Agreement and a detailed project plan co-developed under the direction of Task Force 16 by September 1, 2000.

The resolution was adopted.

 

7.5 TA presented the 5 ANNA Mission Statements developed in light of the comments of TF16. After a discussion regarding the term “regulate” in the 3^rd Mission Statement, the Members voted on the following resolution:

 

Resolution 3

The Members approve the text of the five ANNA Mission Statements.

The resolution was adopted.

 

7.6 CK presented the Letter of Understanding regarding ISIN Service Level. The document is aimed at ensuring that all NNAs are committed to an adequate service level. The nature and content of the main elements in the document were outlined and a number of questions regarding specific provisions answered. CK concluded that the Letter of Understanding comprises a specification of certain aspects of the Articles of Incorporation.

 

7.7 The Members agreed on a number of minor amendments to the Letter of Understanding and then voted on the following resolution:

 

Resolution 4

The Members approve the text of the Letter of Understanding and agree to return a signed copy of this document to the Board by September 28, 2000 prior to the next Extraordinary General Meeting in Brussels on 26 and 27 October 2000.

The resolution was adopted.

 

8. Election of two Board Members

 

8.1 On behalf of the Nomination Committee, NWH reminded the group that two positions were vacant on the Board and presented the only two candidates: the Cusip Service Bureau represented by Jim Taylor and the Wertpapier-Mitteilungen represented by Georg Eisel. The election was held and the Members voted on the following resolutions:

 

8.2 Resolution 5

The ANNA Members re-elect the Cusip Service Bureau (represented by Jim Taylor) for a period of three years ending after the Ordinary General Meeting approving the accounts for the fiscal year 2002.

The resolution was adopted.

 

8.3 Resolution 6

The ANNA Members re-elect Wertpapier-Mitteilungen (represented by Georg Eisel) for a period of three years ending after the Ordinary General Meeting approving the accounts for the fiscal year 2002.

The resolution was adopted.

 

9. Report from the Convenor of WG4 (Emerging ANNA Members)

 

9.1 In the absence of WG4’s Chairman, VM presented the findings of WG4 from its first meeting in Istanbul.

 

9.2 NWH noted that even small emerging NNAs wish to use GIAM but do not do so because of cost and added that if adopted, the Proposal of Telekurs and S&P would meet the needs of WG4. JT added that WG4 should communicate any technical preferences to TF16.

 

9.3 GE commented that the Board had previously discussed the possibility of delivering GIAM to non-GIAM members free of charge for 1 year subject to certain conditions. NY supported this proposal in principle but considered that it may prove difficult to define the NNAs entitled to free delivery. LL wanted a business case for the supply of GIAM free of charge. TA raised the issue of how to handle those Members who have already paid for GIAM.

 

9.4 The Members debated the issue of whether and in one circumstance to supply GIAM free of charge and drafted the following Recommendation and Statement:

 

Recommendation 1

Working Group 4 requests that the ANNA Board of Directors establish a solution for the next twelve months only regarding a free data input facility to GIAM to non-members of GIAM by 30 June 2000. The Members voted in favour of this Recommendation by a count of 43 yes and 1 abstention.

 

Statement 1

Task Force 16 requests that Working Group 4 specify its requirements before June 16, 2000.

 

10. Reports from other Working Groups (WGs) and Task forces (TFs)

 

10.1 UM reported on the activities of WG1. After outlining the ANNA Global Partnership concept, UM presented the developments in that context - in total Partnership contracts are now expected to be signed with 25 countries and UM was confident that all would commence ISIN allocation within the current year. SP added that the Philippines (Philippine Stock Exchange) were also expected to start allocating ISIN on their own in the near future. UM added that Russia would commence ISIN allocation by the end of June. In conclusion, UM expressed satisfaction with the degree of ISIN coverage.

 

11. Miscellaneous

 

11.1 DK outlined the “dummy” ISINs issue and the problems associated therewith. NWH repeated an earlier General Meeting decision that those Members with dummy ISIN problems should develop proposals on how to address them and that none had yet done so. AD suggested that the issue was a matter for WG2.

 

12. Next Meeting

 

12.1 NWH stated that the next (Extraordinary) General Meeting of ANNA would be hosted by C.I.K. and Euroclear in Brussels on 26 and 27 October 2000.

 

13. Closure

 

13.1 NWH formally closed the meeting and reiterated his satisfaction with the fruitful discussions and participation from the floor. NWH also thanked the Cyprus Stock Exchange for their efforts in hosting the meeting.