THE introduction of the Central Clearing and Settlement System (CCASS) in June 1992 was a highlight of the stock exchange's recent history.
Operated by the Hong Kong Securities Clearing Co (HKSCC), the system works like a bank for share certificates. Scrip is lodged in a central repository, where deposits and withdrawals are made by participants.
'It was critical for market development,' the HKSCC chief executive, Richard Heckinger, said.
'The market would not have grown and would not have been considered safe without that step.' CCASS started on a trade-for-trade basis and then moved to continuous net settlement (CNS).
Under CNS, the Clearing Company is the central risk-taker in transactions handled on its network.
It took on the risk of non-delivery or non-payment between brokers and protected itself by making participants comply with its own risk management measures.