Ukraine National Commission on Securities and Stock Market committee approves draft amendments to streamline share accounting for limited and additional liability companies

The Ukraine National Commission on Securities and Stock Market’s Committee on the Functioning of Post-Trading Capital Markets Infrastructure approved a draft decision to amend the procedure for maintaining the share accounting system for limited liability companies and additional liability companies. The draft package clarifies when ownership of a company share is considered transferred, simplifies key post-trade account procedures, and introduces additional safeguards and refusal grounds tied to pledges and sanctions. Under the draft, ownership of a company share would transfer at the moment the share is credited to the participant’s account in the share accounting system. The changes would simplify the process for moving maintenance of a participant’s account from one depository institution or the Central Depository to another depository institution, and streamline transactions on participant accounts when a company’s authorised capital is increased or decreased without changing the composition of participants. The proposal would also restrict a company’s ability to terminate share accounting where a share is pledged or held in an escrow account, and expand grounds for refusing changes to the share accounting system, including where the pledge holder has not consented or sanctions are applied to the participant. The draft decision is intended to take effect after approval at a meeting of the Commission, and is expected to be put to a vote at an upcoming session.