The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) today announced its roll out of an automated platform for creating, signing and delivering certificates of deposit (CD) in a move to digitize all physical securities. DTCC provides clearing and settlement services to the financial markets.

CDs are money-market instruments offered by banks and credit unions that offer an interest rate premium for the customer agreeing to leave a lump -sum deposit untouched for a predetermined period. The new Underwriting Central (UWC) platform will be offered by the DTCC’s subsidiary, The Depository Trust Company (DTC).

DTCC’s depository service provides custody and asset servicing for securities issues from 170 countries and territories valued at $73.5 trillion. The UWC platform includes an e-signature process to execute digital certificates and leverages electronic vaulting technology to transmit and store data. “Electronic vaulting” refers to electronic data transfer to a back-up site, as opposed to the physical shipment.

The platform was piloted with nearly 30 underwriters, including BNY Mellon Capital Markets, Fidelity Capital Markets and Multi-Bank Securities, and more than 50 issuers from regional branches, including BLC Community Bank in Wisconsin and Luana Savings Bank in Iowa.

“This new paperless process eliminates shipping costs and manual processes and the risk of closing delays for the issuer,” Ann Marie Bria, executive director of asset services business management at DTCC, said in a statement.

The UWC platform is part of the firm’s larger effort to fully digitize, all physical securities to create a more secure and efficient marketplace, DTCC said. The firm is also working to address other paper-based asset classes at their issuance, such as corporate debt, as well as other existing securities.

“The new electronic CD capability reduces the risk of potential disruptions in the physical transport and in-person delivery receipt of CDs, all challenges that were amplified during the shift to remote working as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Bria said.