Nasdaq CSD, Lightyear, and Clearstream Partner to Improve European Securities Trading for Lightyear customers

Published on 18.07.25

Nasdaq CSD announces strategic cooperation with Lightyear and Clearstream to facilitate pan-European securities trading, settlement and safekeeping. The collaboration provides direct custody services, expanded trading accessibility, and enhanced operational efficiency for investors.

Through this partnership, all European securities traded via Lightyear will be held in secure direct custody by Nasdaq CSD within Clearstream’s infrastructure. By acting as the Investor CSD and direct intermediary between Lightyear and Clearstream, Nasdaq CSD enables more efficient settlements in central bank money by using T2S infrastructure, shorter chain of intermediaries for asset holdings, and delivers scalable custody infrastructure supporting the growth of digital investment platforms across Europe.

As the central securities depository, Nasdaq CSD:

• – Simplifies entry into European markets
• – Optimizes settlement and custody processes through Clearstream integration and T2S platform utilization, reducing fees and operational risks
• – Enables Lightyear to extend its offering of European equities and ETFs.

As a result, Nasdaq CSD strengthens its participants connectivity with European markets, improves access and facilitates efficient, cost-effective European securities trading.

“Nasdaq CSD is steadfast in its mission to bridge Baltic market participants and their clients with the expansive European investment ecosystem. Through strategic collaboration with Clearstream, this partnership provides Lightyear with a streamlined gateway to the settlement of instruments across European and other markets in central bank money on the Target2-Securities (T2S) platform. This cost-effective post-trade solution not only enhances settlement and liquidity management, but also significantly reduces costs while fostering increased investment activity from retail investors, ” said Kristi Sisa, Member of the Management Board of Nasdaq CSD.

“As a trusted leader in the post-trade industry, Clearstream is pleased to be part of the collaboration between Lightyear and Nasdaq CSD by providing best-in-class pan-European CSD services to the partnership. Our involvement in this partnership aligns with our strategy to reduce operational complexity and increase efficiency for our clients and their underlying clients. Lightyear’s choice to use Nasdaq CSD to access European post-trade markets is a great development following Nasdaq CSD’s decision in 2024 to offer its participants access to Clearstream’s pan-European network and is further evidence of Clearstream’s longstanding contribution to making Europe’s capital markets more accessible and attractive. We provide efficient and flexible access to 60 markets worldwide, European clearing infrastructures and trading venues, supporting market participants to navigate increasingly complex regulatory and compliance requirements,” admits Philip Brown, Head of Global RM, Sales & Client Services at Clearstream.

Andres Kitter, Head of European Operations at Lightyear, comments: “Bringing stocks from new markets to the Lightyear platform is a very important and highly anticipated addition for our users — our mission is to give every investor the ability to manage their portfolio based on their own strategy, and for that, broad access to instruments is essential. But today’s news goes far beyond simply adding new instruments to our product. Thanks to months of hard work, we have been able to eliminate additional intermediaries from the investment process for our users across Europe, bringing the core of investing closer to investors themselves. In plain terms, this means the investing experience and the security of customer asset custody with Lightyear has now improved even further — and we are proud to have had our long-standing partner, the Nasdaq CSD, supporting us on this journey.”