As previously communicated, NASDAQ OMX will launch Central Counterparty services with EMCF on Friday October 9th.
The launch on October 9th will be a Soft Launch with three ISIN per market in Copenhagen, Helsinki and Stockholm. This approach has been agreed together with the Nordic Securities Dealers Associations and the Federation of Finnish Financial Services as well as the local CSD’s. The remaining instruments in the CCP scope will be launched for CCP on Monday 19th October.
The test activities are proceeding as planned. The first formal end to end test has been completed. Feedback from the involved participants has been positive and their expectations have been met. The lessons learned from these tests will improve the conditions for the remaining tests.
We are now planning and preparing for the second and third formal end-to-end test sessions in August and September. Based on the findings it has been decided to include an extra test session to prepare for those, see further details below. A lesson learned is that use of “test” BIC codes should be avoided in Sweden and Finland. We therefore propose that production Settlement BIC codes are to be used in the coming August and September end to end tests in those two countries.
If you have decided to be a DCP or GCP you must register and participate in at least one of the formal end to end tests. To prepare, you need to request test accounts from NASDAQ OMX and EMCF. Most of the DCP’s and GCP’s have now registered for end to end tests. For those who have not yet done so, we urge you to contact NASDAQ OMX and EMCF today.
If you plan to be a NCP we recommend that you participate in the tests together with your GCP.
Please allow us to remind the member firms who have decided to become a GCP or DCP, to proceed and send your membership application to EMCF. If you plan to be a NCP we strongly recommend that you already today initiate the process to decide on the GCP to use in order to sign an agreement with such a GCP.
Soft Launch
The approach of the soft launch will be as follows:
• Phase 1 Optional Clearing instruments will remain configured until 8th October inclusive, after which they will be disabled from optional CCP clearing.
• Effective from Friday 9th October, the following instruments will be CCP-cleared and transferred to CCP submarkets:
Copenhagen:
DCO: DK0010207497
LUN: DK0010287234
NZYM B: DK0010272129
Helsinki:
STERV: FI0009005961
AMEAS: FI0009000285
POH1S: FI0009003222
Stockholm:
ALFA: SE0000695786
SECU B: SE0000163594
SSAB A: SE0000171100
The remainder of the instruments within the following scope will be CCP-cleared and transferred to CCP submarkets effective from Monday 19th October. This includes
• Copenhagen: OMXC20 and Large Cap instruments
• Helsinki: OMXH25, Large Cap and Mid Cap instruments
• Stockholm: OMXS30 and Large Cap instruments
Any instruments that fall outside the above categories but are currently in scope of Optional Clearing for Nordic markets will also be part of the CCP scope from October 19th.
The final list of instruments included in CCP from October 19th onwards will be available on September 18th, due to planned index changes and to accommodate for new listings.
More details about the Soft Launch can be found on the Member Extranet, document entitled “CCP Soft Launch”.
Formal end-to-end test Session Preparations
One of our findings the first formal test session was that a number of participants experienced problems that led to the fact that their tests could not be started. It is crucial that everything works from day 1 of the test week starting August 24th, because we do not have the possibility of re-running test scenarios later during the formal test week.
In order for everybody to be prepared for this exercise we would like you to perform at least two test trades on each market that you operate on (one buy and one sell) followed by settlement at the local CSDs. The purpose of this activity is to check that everything is in order, connectivity works and that you have the right configuration in all systems.
The two test trades should be done August 10-11 in the ISIN codes from this list:
SAXESS identifiers for CCP order books in formal test
Exchange Submarket code Instrument ISIN Order book code Order book ID
XCSE DKEQ SHR CCP DK0010181759 CARL B 1596
DK0010274414 DANSKE 1586
DK0010311471 SYDB 3366
DK0010268606 VWS 3258
XHEL FIEQ SHR CCP FI0009007132 FUM1V 24271
FI0009902530 NDA1V 24308
FI0009000681 NOK1V 24311
FI0009003305 SAMAS 24346
XSTO SEEQ SHR CCP SE0000695876 ALFA 18634
SE0000108656 ERIC B 101
SE0000163594 SECU B 401
SE0000115446 VOLV B 366
By August 14 you are to give us a statement that you are ready for the tests starting August 24th by sending an e-mail to our support (Tradesupport.hel@nasdaqomx.com)
Use of BIC Codes
As part of the lesson learned after the first formal test session with market participants and ISVs one important area of concern has been identified regarding the usage of “test” or “fake” BIC codes at Euroclear Sweden and Euroclear Finland. We do not see this problem in Denmark due to another identification technique there.
We therefore propose that production settlement BIC codes are used in the coming August and September end to end tests. We invite you to give NASDAQ OMX feedback on this proposal. For more details please see document Use of BIC Codes.
Summary of End to End Test
The remaining formal end-to-end test time schedule will be the following:
• Preparations formal end-to end test session (Connectivity and Configuration testing): August 10-11, 2009.
• Formal end-to end test session 2: August 24-28, 2009 (+3 settlement days)
• Formal end-to-end test session 3: September 21-25, 2009 (+3 settlement days)
See also member extranet site http://nordic.nasdaqomxtrader.com/memberextranet/CCP
