The NZCSD Flyer
No 96 - June 2004
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.
The new Payments and Settlement Services Section - PASS
The Reserve Bank has combined the Austraclear Business and ESAS/Settlement teams into one section - Payments and Settlement Services [PASS]. This new structure will allow us to better manage our operations and customer services. In particular, the single help desk for Austraclear and ESAS will assist us to provide extended business and technical support for both systems (including the ESAS/SWIFT interface), especially once the NZD is included as a CLS settlement currency in November 2004.
The amalgamation has led to some significant staff changes. Peter Katz has chosen to join the Bank's Financial Stability Department. Peter is the acting manager of PASS while we recruit for that role. Adrienne Barlow is the Manager of PASS Operations and Debbie Hughes is an Adviser on technical and policy issues.
An updated list of Financial Services Group Customer Service Contacts is attached. Please circulate copies to your staff.
Next Austraclear User Group Meeting - 12 November 2004
The next Austraclear User Group meeting is to be held in conjunction with the New Zealand Financial Markets Operations Association's [FMOA] meeting on Friday 12 November 2004. This meetings will be held in Wellington. The User Group meeting will start around 1.30pm and end around 3.00pm. A copy of the agenda will be sent to members in September.
Austraclear Usergroup meeting - 14 May 2004
Thank you to all the members who were able to attend the user group meeting in Auckland. We appreciated your participation and opportunity to meet with you.
A summary of the key issues raised at this meeting are attached. 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 November 2004. However, due to the pending network upgrade the core network monthly access cost will increase from $40 to $60.
Copies of the User Group presentation can be obtained from Jaimee Taylor (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.
Key achievements over the last three months
Below is a summary of projects completed over the last three months:
Technical Refresh Project1
We appreciated the member contribution to the industry acceptance testing and connectivity that helped, enable a seamless transfer from the VMS to the UNIX operating systems. We were also pleased that, despite the significant re-write of the Austraclear/ESAS software to operate on Unix, there were no significant disruptions to members.
Austraclear Rules
The revised Austraclear Rules and Operating Guidelines came into effect 19 April 2004. The loss sharing arrangements provided for in the old Rules have been withdrawn. As a consequence the `recognised clearing house status' of the Austraclear system has been revoked. (Revocation was published on 6 May 2004 in the Gazette).
Copies of the current Rules and Guidelines are available on our website. http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/payment/austraclear/index.html.
FINEWISS Registry Service2
On 3 May we introduced the new FINEWISS Registry service that provides issuers with an electronic process on the Austraclear system to create, register and trade securities. Eighteen issuers are using this service to issue RCD's.
The issuers are:
ABN AMRO Bank N.V. New Zealand Branch
AMP Bank Limited
ANZ Bank
ASB Bank Ltd
Bank of New Zealand
Carter Holt Harvey Limited
Citibank
Contact Energy Limited
Deutche Bank
GMAC Asia Pacific Treasury Centre
Kiwibank Limited
Lion Nathan
National Bank of New Zealand
Rabo Australia Limited
SABRE New Zealand
TCNZ Finance
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited
Wellington International Airport Limited
Westpac Banking Corporation
Members are reminded that securities issued and held on the FINEWISS register can not be uplifted from NZCSD's name, i.e. these securities can not be uplifted and sold to a third party who is not a member of Austraclear. (The system will send an error message if a member attempts to uplift a FINEWISS registered security).
Please ensure that your staff (traders and settlements staff) are aware of this list and understand that RCD's issued by these issuers post 3 May can not be uplifted.
This list will be kept up to date on our website http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/payment/austraclear/index.html.
Processing Transfers
There are two matters that have arisen out of the processing of transfers in recent times
Alterations to transactions
Recently we have had instances where members have materially altered transfers, or changed transactions in Austraclear after faxing us the relevant transfers. A material alteration in these cases are changes to the amount, security or, for uplifts, transferee.
As we endeavour to forward all transfers to the registries as soon as possible after receipt, we have had instances where both the original and the altered transfer have been processed, or neither.
If you wish to alter a transfer or change the transaction in Austraclear after the transfer has been faxed to us, please call us first so we can stop the registry processing the `incorrect' transfer.
If the transfer has already been processed at the registry we will require a reversal request to be forwarded to us so we can unwind the incorrect transaction at the registry.
Reversal requests
Recently members have been forwarding reversal requests direct to the registry to unwind transfers. This has led to instances where Austraclear has gone out of balance with the holdings at the registry. This is due to the security being returned to New Zealand Central Securities Depository Limited's account at the registry, without a lodge being processed on the Austraclear System.
All reversal requests to which NZCSD is a party must be made through the RTGS help desk. This will allow us to monitor the reversal and when the security is in our name arrange for lodges to be confirmed.
We appreciate your cooperation on both these matters. If you have any queries please refer to Lincoln Carlyle (04) 471 3698.
NZCSD - Acceptable securities (Reminder)
Members and issuers are reminded that effective 1 April 2004 all new issues of fixed interest securities accepted by 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. acceptance of any new issue of fixed interest security by NZCSD will require the issuer or their agent as a member of Austraclear to pay beneficial holders directly in irrevocable funds.
Members should therefore ensure that any securities purchased for lodgement into Austraclear post 1 April 2004 are acceptable by NZCSD. Members can check if a security has been accepted by the depository by using FISERIEQ or by ringing our helpdesk (04) 471 3897. If you have further queries 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 (March 04 to May 04) we had no Austraclear system outages that directly affected Austraclear users3.
Accordingly the Austraclear system was available for 100% of normal business hours over the last 3 months.
CLS Settlement
The Reserve Bank and industry are working to introduce CLS settlement effective October 2004 (trialling with low transaction volumes and values ). Full go live date is planned for late November 2004. In order to meet this objective CLS Bank begin their testing in June 2004 which will then be followed by the NZ industry testing of CLS planned for September 2004. A CLS Usergroup comprising of those Banks participating in CLS operates to consider operational and liquidity issues. Members should note the changed Austraclear hours of operation that come into effect 1 September 2004 described in the summary notes from the last Usergroup meeting.
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 Jaimee Taylor (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.
|
Mnemonic |
Name |
Membership |
|
WJMW40 |
Waddell Johnston McCarthy and Co Ltd |
Full |
|
UBSA45 |
UBS Australia Ltd o/a UBS Nominees Ltd |
Branch |
|
W23840 |
Home Loan Nominees Ltd - Westpac Home Loan Trsut |
Nominated Trust |
|
W09240 |
Guardian Nominees Ltd - Westpac NZ Bonds 2002 Wholesale Trust |
Nominated Trust |
|
W09040 |
Guardian Nominees Ltd - Westpac NZ Shares 2002 Wholesale Trust |
Nominated Trust |
|
CONL40 |
Contact Energy Limited |
Associate |
|
WIAP40 |
Wellington International Airport Ltd |
Associate |
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 System Rules Effective date 19 April 2004 (PDF 126KB)
Austraclear New Zealand system rules 9 October 2000 (PDF 115KB)
Austraclear New Zealand Operating Guidelines 12 May 2003 (PDF 160KB)
Austraclear New Zealand Operating Guidelines Effective 19 April 2004 (PDF 385KB)
Austraclear New Zealand system membership application pack (PDF 191KB)
Austraclear functions: quick reference guide - Screen Refresh and Toggle
Austraclear New Zealand charges Effective from 20 January 2004
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)
Quick Reference Guide - Summary of Form 3 (VMS) and Form 6 (Unix) differences for users of the Austraclear/ESAS systems 5 January 2004 (PDF 19KB)
Technology upgrade conversion differences prepared for Austraclear and ESAS users 5 January 2004 (PDF 141KB)
Process to Cutover to the New Austraclear/ESAS Software and Systems 2 April 2004 (PDF 158KB)
FINEWISS Registry Agreement October 2003 (PDF 139KB)
Association of Global Custodians Questionnaire (2003-2004) (PDF 696KB)
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 Statistics
1 Under the "Technology Refresh' project the system operating software (Oracle forms and oracle database), was 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 applications have been migrated from VMS to a UNIX environment. An outline of the impact of this project on the Austraclear system and our test strategies is available on our web page http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/payment/austraclear/0138477.html.
2 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.
3 Availability based on 10 hours per business day. ESAS/SWIFT outages do not prevent access to and processing in the Austraclear system although settlement may be slowed when ESAS/SWIFT has an outage.
