The NZCSD Flyer
No 94 - December 2003
Introduction
The NZCSD Flyer provides our customers with a series of brief notes about current matters of interest to both Registry customers and Austraclear Members.
Each item usually includes a reference to the person or section to whom further enquiries should be directed. However, please also feel free to contact Peter Katz (00 644) 471 3711, email katzp@rbnz.govt.nz, on any Austraclear issue or Barry Norton (00 644) 471 3682, email nortonb@rbnz.govt.nz on Registry business.
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The Reserve Bank Financial Services team would like to wish all of our customers and contacts a joyous Christmas and a prosperous New Year. |
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Reserve Bank FINEWISS Registry Service
The Bank announced it shall exit the business of providing registry and paying agent services to the vast majority of issuers - the only exception being the intention to provide a very restricted registry service to issuers of certain classes of securities held entirely in the Austraclear system.
The bottom line is that issuers that wish to have access to the Austraclear FINEWISS [Fixed interest New Issue] Function through which they can electronically create securities within Austraclear must use the RBNZ's FINEWISS Registry.
Details of this service, including Agreements and costs are posted on the Reserve Bank's Website http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/payment/austraclear/index.html.
(All issuers that use the Bank's current Registry service should have received a letter from Barry Norton explaining what action they need to take before 1 April 2004. If not you have not received this advice please contact Barry Norton phone (04) 471 3682).
Issuers that have questions relating to this new service should contact Peter Katz (04) 471 3711 or Adrienne Barlow (04) 471 3629.
Austraclear Rules
A draft set of revised Austraclear Rules has been sent to all Treasury Operation managers for comment by 15 January 2004. The Rules incorporate the following key changes:
- Removal of Rules that relate to pruned code1 and the removal of interim end of day processing - e.g. this includes deleting all references to Forward Rate Agreements.
- Removal of the 'Backout Arrangement ' referred to in Rules 14 and 15.
- Broadening the definition of `Participating Bank' to include all ESAS account holders (previously restricted to registered banks) and the system operator to act as a `Participating ESAS Account Holder'.
- Including word changes to make it clear that we have discretion to accept or reject securities into the depository.
- Differentiating between a security held on-register lodged into the system and a security which is created through the system FINEWISS function. This clause is supportive of the planned FINEWISS RBNZ Registry.
Software Developments
Austraclear Hours of Operation (HOO)
Final testing of the HOO software has been deferred until next year in order to allow resources (staff and systems) to be applied to the `Technical Refresh' project and other related projects that lie on the critical path for the start of CLS settlement planned for Q3 2004.
Technology Refresh Project Update.
Under the `Technology Refresh' project the system operating software (Oracle forms and Oracle database), will be migrated to newer releases that ensures the application will be supported to at least late 2006 and will provide a sound platform for future development if need be. Also the Austraclear and ESAS application will be migrated from VMS to a Unix environment.
We have undertaken comprehensive preliminary testing of the pre-release software with Datacom and a comprehensive user acceptance test [UAT] is planned for January - March 2004. There will be minor changes to the forms visible to members as a result of the upgrade. A full description of these differences will be available on our website after 5 January 2004. All members will be required to test connectivity to the new system in February 2004 and Industry Acceptance Testing is planned to commence in late March 2004 for those members interested in participating. This project is due for completion in April 2004.
An outline of the impact of this project on the Austraclear system is now available on our web page http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/payment/austraclear/0138477.html. Also our test strategy is available on this site.
Austraclear/ESAS Terminal emulation software (KEA) update
Early next year all Austraclear/ESAS customers will be receiving a new distribution of KEATERM macros for connection to Austraclear/ESAS.
This set of Macros will give users the ability to connect to the existing Austraclear/ESAS servers and also the new Austraclear/ESAS servers that will be available for connectivity testing in January.
Please note the new Austraclear/ESAS servers will have new IP addresses assigned to them. For router based customers using network address translation we will contact you directly mid January to assist in the configuration changes that will be required.
The New Zealand customers macros will be distributed by the RBNZ Payment System Team while the Australian customers macros will be distributed by the Sydney Futures Exchange Network Team.
NZCSD - Acceptable securities
Members and issuers are reminded that effective 1 April 2004 all fixed interest securities held in NZCSD will require the issuer to have appointed a paying agent who is a member of Austraclear and who undertakes to pay the beneficial holders in NZCSD directly using the FIISCONF function. I.e. we will require the issuer or their agent to pay beneficial holders directly in irrevocable funds. (Note that we now require `new issuers' that do not already have securities within the depository to appoint a paying agent on Austraclear before their security is accepted.)
Accordingly, all fixed interest securities lodged after 1 April 2004 will only be accepted if the issuer or their paying agent is a member of Austraclear.
Members should therefore ensure that any securities purchased for lodgement into Austraclear post 1 April 2004 will be accepted by the depository. Members can check if a security has been accepted by the depository by using FISERIESQ or by ringing our helpdesk (04) 471 3897. If you have further queries relating to this issue please contact Peter Katz (04) 471 3711 or Adrienne Barlow (04) 471 3629.
Austraclear/ESAS System Availability
The figure below shows the Austraclear/ESAS System outages over the last twelve months.
For the last 3 months September -November we had 4 system outages
(i) In September there was a 36 minute delay to Start of Day due to a month end billing process that failed.
(ii) In September there was a 55 minute outage to all customers due to a Operating System script that had been modified
(iii) In October there was a 45 minute delay for ESAS transactions to settle due to the implementation of Auto-Offset.
(iv) In November there was a 15 minute delay for all customers to Start of Day and an additional 30 minute delay to ESAS customers due to a software implementation on the SWIFT CSI.
The Austraclear/ESAS systems were available for 99.88% of normal business hours over the last 3 months.2.
CLS Settlement
The Reserve Bank and industry are working to introduce CLS settlement effective September 2004 (with low volumes), and full go live date is planned for November 2004. These dates have yet to be confirmed by CLS Bank. In order to meet this objective we plan to complete the Technology Refresh Project by the end of April 2004. CLS Bank then begin their testing in May 2004 which will then be followed by the NZ industry testing of CLS planned for July 2004.
Austraclear User Group Meeting - 7 November 2003
Thank you to all the members who were able to attend the user group meeting in Wellington. We appreciated your participation and opportunity to meet with you. The key points raised during the meeting have been predominantly covered in the above articles - project summaries, the update on registry services, and the description of future `acceptable' fixed interest securities and CLS progress report. Of significant interest to all members is that we were pleased to announce that transaction volumes in the system have been steady and accordingly fees remain unchanged until the next fee review in May 2004. Copies of the User Group presentation can be obtained from Jo Woodman-Smith (04) 471 3608, or from our home page http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/
If you have any questions relating to the material presented at the meeting or covered in the presentation please contact Peter Katz (04) 471 3711.
Austraclear New Zealand Member List
The list of `Austraclear System Members and Mnemonics' has been updated and posted on our website
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/payment/austraclear/0107384.html. If you are unable to access our website please fax Jo Woodman-Smith (04-471 3834) with a request to have a hard copy mailed to you quarterly.
Changes in Membership
New members/Members branches
Welcome to the new Austraclear members.
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Mnemonic |
Name |
Membership |
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BKRE30 |
BK Registries Limited |
ASSC |
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PTO120 |
Perpetual Trustee Co Ltd ATF Unity Services 2003 - 1 Trust |
ASSC |
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CISL90 |
Computershare Investor Services Ltd |
ASSC |
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GSJA90 |
Goldman Sachs JB Were (NZ) Ltd |
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Index of Austraclear and NZCSD Information and Documents available on the Internet
Listed below are the Austraclear and NZCSD documents which are available for download from our internet page
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/payment/Austraclear/index.html
Overview of Austraclear (also available in PDF 120KB)
Austraclear New Zealand members
Independent auditor's report to the System Operator of Austraclear New Zealand for quarter ending 30 September 2003 15 October 2003 (PDF 324KB)
Financial Services Group Customer Service Contacts 25 February 2003
Austraclear Customer Survey March 2002
Austraclear: Host-To-Host Lite (HTH*Lite) guide and application pack February 2002 (PDF 271KB)
Austraclear New Zealand Operating Guidelines 4 September 2001 (PDF 402KB)
Proposed revisions to Austraclear New Zealand Operating Guidelines (with edits showing) 12 May 2003 (PDF 198KB)
Proposed revisions to Austraclear New Zealand Operating Guidelines 12 May 2003 (PDF 160KB)
Austraclear New Zealand system rules 9 October 2000 (PDF 115KB)
Austraclear New Zealand system membership application pack (PDF 191KB)
Austraclear functions: quick reference guide - Screen Refresh and Toggle
Austraclear New Zealand charges Effective from 13 October 2003
Network Access Fee Schedule
Austraclear System: Hours of Availability Post CLS 6 December 2002
Austraclear Usergroup Hours of Operation 7 February 2003
Minutes of the Austraclear User Group Hours of Operation Sub-Committee 23 January 2003
Austraclear/ESAS Hours of Operation 26 March 2003
Austraclear/ESAS Flexible Hours of Operation User Acceptance Testing Test Strategy August 2003
Austraclear/ESAS Technology Refresh Project Overview of the RBNZ's UAT Test Plan 23 October 2003 also available as PDF (223KB)
FINEWISS Registry Agreement October 2003 (PDF 139KB)
Association of Global Custodians Questionnaire (2002) (PDF 203KB)
The NZCSD Flyer provides our customers with a series of brief notes about current matters of interest to both Registry customers and Austraclear members.
Austraclear User Group Meeting
Austraclear User Group Meeting presentation 7 November 2003
Austraclear Statistics
1 In May 2003 large sections of redundant code relating to FRA's and physical securities was removed.
2 Availability based on 10 hours per business day.
