What Is the Depository Trust Company?
The Depository Trust Company is a financial services company established in 1973 in New York City. The purpose of this company is to centralize the holding of paper stock certificates. Over more than three decades, the DTC has helped to make trading and other Wall Street activities vastly more efficient. Prior to the establishment of the Depository Trust Company, brokers always exchanged paper certificates for stocks. With the rise of new technology and more diverse trading patterns, the market quickly became overwhelmed by the amount of paper changing hands. The DTC provided better record keeping and a central location for stock certificates, and alleviated many problems regarding keeping track of mountains of financial paper.
The Depository Trust Company is a financial services company established in 1973 in New York City. The purpose of this company is to centralize the holding of paper stock certificates. Over more than three decades, the DTC has helped to make trading and other Wall Street activities vastly more efficient. Prior to the establishment of the Depository Trust Company, brokers always exchanged paper certificates for stocks. With the rise of new technology and more diverse trading patterns, the market quickly became overwhelmed by the amount of paper changing hands. The DTC provided better record keeping and a central location for stock certificates, and alleviated many problems regarding keeping track of mountains of financial paper. In 1968, several years before the Depository Trust Company was set up, New York Stock Exchange officials had already begun to plan for an overhaul of the paper-based system, which was resulting in massive confusion and lots of lost certificates. The CCS, or Cent
