Depositary Trust & Clearing under water

Thanks to Travellerev and courtesy of Google Translate comes this story from a Dutch newspaper.

Sandy destroys shares

NEW YORK - Mega Storm Sandy also holds the stock in its grip. An enormous amount of paper stock with a value that is in the trillions, is probably largely perished by water damage.

de Telegraaf,

2 November, 2012

It reports CNN Friday. The shares were in a storage room of a New York basement during the storm earlier this week flooded.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.., The affected company, manages the shares of more than 3.6 million shares with a total value of $ 36.5 trillion (nearly 28.5 billion euros).

Executive Director Michael Bodson Friday could not say exactly how many paper shares definitively lost

According to the Newsweek article the clearing house admits that the cellars have been been flooded but denies that the paper work has been destroyed stating that the real damage can not be estimated until power has been restored and the vaults can be accessed.

According to the clearing house the computer files are still in tact suggesting that they will be able to salvage details of all transactions.

Depositary Trust & Clearing Says Securities Vault Is Submerged

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., which processes securities trades in the U.S., said its vault in southern Manhattan is under water.

Businessweek,

2 November, 2012

DTCC, owned by member firms including investment banks, runs clearinghouses for trading of stocks and bonds. Clearing, settlement and other processes were “shifted seamlessly” to facilities outside the region as the hurricane battered the Northeast, it said.

“As the DTCC vault was sealed prior to evacuating the building and remains submerged, determining the extent of the damage would be speculative,” it said in a press release. “Although sea water levels have returned to normal, the lower floors in the building remain flooded. Our computer records are fully intact, including detailed inventory files of the contents of the vault.”

The organization’s headquarters at 55 Water Street in New York were damaged in Sandy, which flooded parts of southern Manhattan and cut electricity, it said. DTCC said the building will be inaccessible until power is restored.

Daily physical processing of securities is being carried out at a facility in Brooklyn, the organization said. Deposit services are available to clients who are able to make delivery in Brooklyn.