In an unusually-worded statement, FKTK said that making public the details itself constituted a "sanction".
"The Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) established an infringement of Article 45 of the CSDR at Nasdaq CSD SE, as, due to an incident that occurred in the primary data center, there was a disruption in operation of all three securities settlement systems (Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian) operated by Nasdaq CSD SE during more than two hours' time which is maximum recovery target provided for by the CSDR to resume critical operations." FKTK said.
The primary data center premises are located at Väsby, Sweden, where the trading and clearing platforms run and storage equipment is placed. Due to the incident on April 18 the Nasdaq CSD SE could not provide core services of central securities depositories for a period of more than two hours, which is the time limit applied by regulations for the resolution of such incidents.
The incident "was not substantial, as there were a small number of instructions affected due to the incident," said FKTK, before adding:
"At the same time, in its assessment of significance of the infringement, FKTK takes into consideration the possible effect that such an incident could have on the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian financial markets. Therefore FKTK, in order to prevent recurrence of a similar infringement in the future, has imposed a sanction on Nasdaq CSD SE – a public statement about the infringement of Article 45 of the CSDR, by indicating the nature of the infringement."
That seems to indicate that FKTK had the option to keep the incident secret but has chosen not to do so in this case.
The three Baltic states unified their central securities depository systems in September 2017 as part of an effort to create a pan-Baltic bourse. The CSD is a fundamental element in the Baltic financial market, settling shares and other securities issued by companies and governments in three individual securities settlement systems, one governed by Estonian law, a second governed by Latvian law and a third governed by Lithuanian law.
