Clearstream Banking AG (to be known as Clearstream Europe AG from 26th September 2025[1]) is the main national central securities depository (CSD) in Germany. It is a fully owned subsidiary of the Clearstream Group, itself part of Deutsche Börse Group.
As of 2018, it was the world's fourth-largest CSD by value of securities held, only surpassed by Fedwire Securities Service, the Depository Trust Company, and Euroclear Bank.[2]
History
On 1949-7-12, the Frankfurter Kassenverein was established to handle the settlement and clearance of securities traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange following the wartime and post-war disruption.[3] The word Kassenverein was a reference to a number of pre-war financial institutions that provided market infrastructure services in the German-speaking world, including the Berliner Kassenverein and the Wiener Giro- und Cassen-Verein, the latter being described as the oldest CSD.