How Depositary Receipts Expand Global Market Access

Depositary Receipts

How Depositary Receipts Expand Global Market Access

The global depositary receipts market is evolving to expand its boundaries, drive innovation and open pathways for capital to flow across borders.

6 minute read

29 Jul, 2026

Last year, $6.6 trillion in depositary receipt (DR) value traded across 271 billion securities¹— and the infrastructure that made that possible just expanded into genuinely new territory: Canada opened as a DR market for the first time. On the fixed income side, Global Depositary Note (GDN) programs extended into new sovereign markets, including BNY’s first issuance in Costa Rica, and — for the first time — into corporate debt. On the equity side, the largest ADR IPO of 2026 raised $1 billion in American Depositary Shares². These aren't incremental improvements. They are proof that the constraints on global investing aren't permanent features of the landscape — they’re engineering problems being solved in real time.

Key Takeaways

$6.6 trillion traded and $1.2 trillion in institutional AUM — DR markets are no longer peripheral strategy.
Canada opened as a DR market in 2026, eliminating a long-standing structural barrier for U.S. investors.
Top 25 DR owners expanded holdings 36% YoY — global portfolios are being actively rebuilt around this structure.
GDNs extended to corporate debt and new sovereigns, unlocking emerging market fixed income at unprecedented scale.
The largest ADR IPO of 2026 raised $1 billion — cross-border listings are regaining serious primary market momentum.

Why Institutions Are Leaning in Further on Depositary Receipts

The world’s largest and most sophisticated asset managers are leading this growth. The top 25 DR owners expanded their holdings by an average of 36% year over year³ — a sign that DRs are becoming core to how major institutions build international portfolios, not just a tactical instrument. Three dynamics define this trend:

Active managers lead the market. Active investment firms represent 80% of North American DR investment³. They rely on the liquidity and settlement efficiency of DRs to execute high-conviction global strategies.
Developed and emerging markets are almost evenly split. Developed markets represent 55% of global DR investment while emerging markets account for 45%³. This near-equal split reflects how effectively the DR structure bridges mature capital pools with high-growth economies.
New programs keep expanding investor choice. A total of 161 new unsponsored DR programs have launched over the past year, alongside 13 sponsored programs. Unsponsored coverage has reached 74%, giving investors access to a broader range of international equities than ever before⁴.

That institutional depth is only possible because U.S. equity markets remain the premier destination for global capital — and DRs serve as the conduit. They allow international companies to access the deepest liquidity pools in the world while giving U.S. investors a familiar, dollar-denominated trading experience. It is that combination of scale and accessibility that makes the structural expansions described below consequential.

Institutional engagement in the DR market reached new heights over the past year.

$6.6T

in DR value traded, with total volume of 271Btraded

$217B

North American DR investment growth year on year

$1.2T

Global DR investment total at year-end 2025

7,490

There are 7,490 institutional holders of DRs as of Q4 2025³

How Canada Became a New Depositary Receipt Market

The year’s biggest structural breakthrough was Canada opening as a new depositary receipt market. The barrier wasn’t investor appetite — it was operational. Many U.S. asset managers, wealth platforms and brokerages are restricted by charter or system architecture to trading only U.S.-settled, dollar-denominated securities. Canadian equities didn’t fit that mold.

A new framework changed that. By allowing investors to access Canadian equities in a U.S.-dollar, U.S.-settled format — using existing U.S. infrastructure — the solution expanded choice without disrupting the local Canadian market.

Adoption moved in three clear phases:

Building a base. Immediate liquidity and market breadth were established with the launch of 42 unsponsored DR programs across multiple sectors.
Bringing in corporate sponsors. In February 2026, First Phosphate Corp. established the first Sponsored Level I DR program on Canadian equities — the first formal corporate commitment to the new structure.
Reaching public markets. In April 2026, Nicola Mining Inc. became the first Canadian issuer to list its ADRs on Nasdaq, making the model accessible to any Canadian company seeking U.S. investor access through a proven, exchange-listed structure.

The sequence points to a repeatable playbook: identify a structural barrier, build the infrastructure to remove it, prove demand through unsponsored programs, then support sponsored listings as the market matures.

Global Depositary Notes: How Investors Access Emerging Market Debt

Access gaps aren’t limited to equities. Fixed income investors seeking exposure to emerging market debt face real operational friction — complex local custody arrangements, unfamiliar settlement cycles, foreign exchange restrictions. Most of those barriers have nothing to do with creditworthiness. They are structural.

Global Depositary Notes address them directly. GDNs are U.S.-dollar-denominated debt securities that represent ownership of locally traded sovereign or corporate debt, eligible for settlement through Euroclear, Clearstream and DTC. They align local instruments with global operational standards — removing the friction without changing the underlying asset.

The GDN market has expanded significantly over the past year. In all, 65 new GDN programs launched, with active markets now spanning Indonesia, Paraguay, Peru, Nigeria and Costa Rica — where BNY executed its first GDN issuance, broadening its sovereign debt footprint into new territory. The model crossed a more consequential threshold: the first corporate GDN supported the local-currency bond issuance of Tigo, extending the structure beyond sovereigns and giving corporate issuers in emerging markets a direct channel into global fixed income portfolios.

GDNs are doing for emerging market debt what DRs have long done for equities: converting assets that were structurally inaccessible into instruments global investors can actually hold.

Cross-Border ADR IPOs: How Global Listings Are Gaining Momentum

The primary market for cross-border listings has shown real momentum through Q1 2026. For the past two years, the DR market has led in IPOs supported, total capital raised and average deal size.

The year-to-date high point: the largest ADR IPO of 2026 raised $1.0 billion across more than 63 million American Depositary Shares⁵. Three trends define the broader pipeline:

Big deals are back. A transaction of this size shows that global capital markets remain receptive to high-quality cross-border listings when the right infrastructure is in place.
Technology companies lead the way. DRs continue to be the preferred vehicle for high-growth technology companies accessing U.S. public markets from abroad.
Private equity is playing an increasingly prominent role, using DRs as a preferred exit and monetization strategy for cross-border portfolio companies.

The Future of Global Capital Access: Infrastructure Still Sets the Pace

The conversation around depositary receipts has shifted. The question is no longer whether the structure works — $6.6 trillion in trading volume and $1.2 trillion in institutional assets have settled that⁶. The question now is how proven infrastructure can be applied to the access challenges that remain.

Recent developments make the answer clear. Canada wasn’t accessible to DR investors until someone built the framework to make it so. BNY’s first GDN issuance in Costa Rica offered global investors a new way into that sovereign debt market. The first corporate GDN gave emerging market issuers a channel into global fixed income portfolios that didn’t previously exist. These aren’t one-off solutions — they are proof of a model that scales.

For issuers and investors willing to act on that evidence rather than observe it, the infrastructure for what comes next is already in place. The only remaining variable is who moves first.