What is the Central Depository Company (CDC)?
The CDC is Pakistan's central securities depository, holding shares in electronic (book-entry) form and recording their ownership and transfer.
The Central Depository Company (CDC) is Pakistan's central securities depository — the institution that holds shares and other securities in electronic form and keeps the official record of who owns what. Before the CDC, shares existed as physical paper certificates that had to be moved, verified, and re-registered with every trade, a slow and risky process prone to forgery, loss, and delay. The CDC dematerialised the market, replacing paper with secure electronic book-entries.
When you buy shares on the PSX today, you do not receive a paper certificate. Instead, the shares are credited electronically to your account in the CDC system. Ownership and transfers are recorded as book entries, so settling a trade is a matter of updating electronic records rather than physically delivering certificates.
Investors typically hold their shares in one of two ways within the CDC framework:
- An Investor Account (also called a CDC sub-account, accessed through your broker), where your shares sit under your broker's main account but are recorded as belonging to you. - A direct CDC account for investors who want their securities held in their own name independently of any single broker.
The CDC's role brings major benefits:
- Safety: no risk of lost, stolen, damaged, or forged certificates. - Speed: instant, electronic transfer of ownership, which is essential for the T+2 settlement cycle. - Efficiency and transparency: accurate, centralised records of holdings, and easy handling of corporate actions such as dividends, bonus shares, and right shares, which can be credited straight to investors' accounts.
The CDC works hand in hand with the other pillars of the market. The PSX is where trades are agreed, the National Clearing Company (NCCPL) clears and nets those trades, and the CDC moves the securities and maintains custody — all under the oversight of the SECP. Together they make sure that when you trade, the right shares end up in the right account safely.
For investors, the practical takeaway is that your shares live as electronic entries in the CDC system, and you can verify your holdings directly. The CDC even offers services that let investors check their accounts, adding a layer of independent assurance that the shares recorded against your name are genuinely there.