London, 2013-03-01 16:00 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
The European Market Infrastructure Regulation (“EMIR”) which came into force on 16 August 2012 requires NASDAQ OMX to make changes to its European clearing business. In light of this, NASDAQ OMX has decided to transfer the N2EX Clearing business, to another entity within the NASDAQ OMX group by way of a demerger. The central counterparty (CCP) for N2EX cleared trades and member relationships will switch from the existing entity NASDAQ OMX Stockholm AB to the regulated exchange company Stockholms Fondbörs AB. This is expected to take place during August 2013. These changes will allow NASDAQ OMX to better serve the unique requirements of N2EX as a short dated physical market after the full implementation of EMIR during 2013.
N2EX members will experience minimal operational changes as a result of the transfer as the Risk Model, Settlement Procedures and Agreements will remain unchanged. N2EX will continue with business as usual and all memberships and collateral arrangements will be transferred automatically without the need for member assignation.
NASDAQ OMX has identified some areas of member impact which are summarised below. These will be covered in further detail by a special session of the N2EX Market Council on 19 March 2013 to discuss the migration and its effects, additional documentation to describe the new N2EX CCP will be provided at this time.
All N2EX members are invited to send a representative to this session and those interested in doing so should RSVP to jason.hall@nasdaqomx.com by 11 March 2013.
Changes to existing N2EX Members
Membership Agreements - NASDAQ OMX will not require N2EX Clearing Members to resign existing agreements or enter into new ones. As a result of the demerger all memberships and other agreements will be automatically transferred to Stockholms Fondbörs AB.
Capitalisation and Governance of the Exchange Company – Stockholms Fondbörs AB will be regulated as an Exchange by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority and will be required to provide sufficient capital and governance of its operations including the N2EX clearing operations. NASDAQ OMX will be producing a due diligence pack to describe this entity prior to the Market Council session on March 19th.
Product Offering – After the demerger N2EX will only offer products considered as non-financial instruments. Accordingly there will be some minor changes to the N2EX product roster meaning that the EFA Week and EFA Month OTR contracts will be delisted. This is expected to have no member impact as those contracts carry no open interest.
Default Fund – N2EX members will no longer be required to contribute to a Default Fund instead NASDAQ OMX will provide the necessary capital for the N2EX clearing business, subject to board approval.
N2EX members that are not members of NASDAQ OMX Commodities (the derivatives exchange) will have their existing Commodities Default Fund contribution returned. This will take place after the demerger and once the Commodities Default Fund has been rebased. The aim is for all contributions to be returned in September 2013 with further details being provided to members during August. N2EX members that are also members of NASDAQ OMX Commodities will continue to contribute to the Commodities Default Fund for the derivatives market. However, the calculation of their requirement will be changed so that the element representing N2EX exposure is removed. This recalculation will also take place during the first update of the Commodities Default Fund following the demerger. As usual, contribution levels will be available ten business days prior to the contribution deadline.
Rulebook - The rulebook will be updated to reflect the change in the CCP entity prior to the separation process.
Business names - In connection with the demerger, NASDAQ OMX Stockholm AB intends to transfer the business name ”NASDAQ OMX Stockholm AB” to Stockholms Fondbörs AB, and simultaneously change its business name to “NASDAQ OMX Clearing AB”. Those changes are conditional on the approval of the Swedish Companies Registration Office and will be effective at the same time as the demerger. To avoid any confusion we will continue to use the existing company names until the demerger and the name changes are implemented.
For further information
N2EX contact:
Jason Hall, UK Business manager, phone: +46 8405 7848/+46 7 3449 7848 Jason.hall@nasdaqomx.com
Media contacts:
Sara Aadnesen, Director Corporate Communications, NASDAQ OMX Commodities and N2EX, phone: +47 6752 8080/+47 9060 0759, sara.aadnesen@nasdaqomx.com
About N2EX
N2EX is the name of the UK power market offering from Nord Pool Spot and NASDAQ OMX Commodities. NASDAQ OMX Clearing is the authorized clearinghouse.
The web site www.n2ex.com provides market information and documentation for the UK power market.
About Nord Pool Spot
Nord Pool Spot runs the leading power market in Europe and offers both day-ahead and intraday markets to its members. 350 companies from 20 countries trade on the market. The Nord Pool Spot group has offices in Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Tallinn and London. In 2012 the group had a total turnover of 432 TWh, which includes the auction volume in the UK market N2EX.
For more information, visit www.nordpoolspot.com.
About NASDAQ OMX Commodities
NASDAQ OMX Commodities is the brand name for the NASDAQ OMX Group’s worldwide suite of commodity related products and services. The NASDAQ OMX Commodities offerings include power, natural gas and carbon emission markets and clearing services. NASDAQ OMX Commodities is a trademark of the NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.
NASDAQ OMX Commodities Europe is the trade name of NASDAQ OMX Oslo ASA which is authorized as a commodity derivatives exchange by the Norwegian Ministry of Finance and supervised by the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority. All trades with NASDAQ OMX Commodities Europe are subject to clearing with NASDAQ OMX Clearing.
NASDAQ OMX Clearing is the trade name of NASDAQ OMX Stockholm AB which is authorized and supervised as a multi-asset clearinghouse by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority in Sweden as well as authorized to conduct clearing operation in Norway by the Norwegian Ministry of Finance.
NASDAQ OMX Commodities has nearly 350 members from over 15 countries covering a wide range of energy producers, consumers and financial institutions.
For more information, please visit www.nasdaqomx.com/commodities
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