Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Depositary definition

What does Depositary mean? In capital markets practice under the listing rules, a depositary is typically a bank that holds the underlying securities and issues tradeable certificates or depositary receipts to investors. These instruments represent rights to the underlying shares, debt or other securities and may themselves be admitted to, or the subject of an application for, listing on a regulated market. The depositary is appointed under a deposit agreement and handles issuance, cancellation, settlement (including via CREST for CREST Depositary Interests), corporate actions, and the transmission of dividends and, where applicable, voting rights. For listing purposes, the depositary is generally...

GDRs: structure, key parties, and UK listing and disclosure obligations (FCA, LSE, TCFD), plus current policy developments

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Practice notes

Introduction ARCHIVED : This Practice Note was archived and is no longer maintained.

Global depositary receipts (GDRs) are securities issued by a depositary bank that stand for another security held by that bank, such as shares. An issuer commonly establishes a depositary receipt programme with a depositary to permit institutional investors to gain exposure to its shares. These programmes are widely used by companies based in emerging markets where domestic rules—like taxes or burdensome registration obligations—make direct shareholding by overseas investors impractical or unattractive. As a result, GDR programmes can open access to a broader investor base than a purely local share offering. GDRs are usually admitted to trading on leading stock exchanges, most frequently London, which can provide investors with enhanced liquidity and offer issuers the prospect of larger deal sizes or improved valuations. While issuers may alternatively list their shares directly on foreign exchanges, the associated listing, reporting and corporate governance standards are generally tougher than for GDR listings. Some issuers elect to set up a GDR programme without running a concurrent offering to investors...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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