The NZCSD Flyer
No 98- December 2004
Introduction
The NZCSD Flyer provides our customers with a series of brief notes about current matters of interest to Austraclear Members.
Each item usually includes a reference to the person or section to who further enquiries should be directed. However, please also feel free to contact Adrienne Barlow (00 644) 471 3629, email adrienne.barlow@rbnz.govt.nz, on any Austraclear/ESAS matter.
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The Reserve Bank PaSS Team would like to wish all of our customers and contacts a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. |
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Helping the Environment
Did you know that the NZCSD Flyer is available on-line?
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/payment/austraclear
As from January 2005 the NZCSD Flyer will no longer be mailed. You can receive the NZCSD Flyer direct to your email address. If you wish to be on our e-mailing list, please advise your email addresses to:
Cash Cut-off Extensions
In the last few weeks there has been a number of requests to extend cash cut-off at 16.45pm in Austraclear.This is a reminder that –
- Members must contact our Help Desk (64 4 471 3918) no later than 4.35pm
- Don’t automatically expect that we will grant this request (an extension affects all members)
- After telephoning us members must send through a written request (for audit purposes)
Austraclear User Group Meeting – 12 November 2004
The notes from the Austraclear User Group Meeting held on the 12 November 2004 are attached.
Business Continuity Test – 23 November 2004
Our regular quarterly BCP test was conducted on 23 November 2004. Once again this proved an invaluable exercise for us and our site provider.
Each time we run a test we further streamline our processes and procedures.
Members who make coupon or maturity payments within Austraclear are reminded it is their responsibility to cover these issues in their own BCP arrangements.
Dial-up members
A reminder to members who dial into Austraclear or ESAS that they must log completely out of Austraclear or ESAS to disconnect the phone call once they have completed their business. If a member stays in the system the phone line will remain open, then members will incur call charges.
Austraclear/ESAS System Availability
CLS Settlement
CLS settlement in the New Zealand market went live on 6th December 2004. After many years of hard work by many people from the industry this milestone has been reached.
In the October Flyer we advised members of the changes to the system to accommodate members who participate in CLS settlements. Our Help Desk coverage has now been extended to cover the CLS window. Currently the Help Desk is manned from 7am until 10.30pm (summer time). The start time for our help desk is always 7am, but the later time changes with daylight saving.
FATF Compliance
As advised in the October Flyer we were expecting to test changes to enable members to comply with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) requirements.
Phase I - changes to the CASHP/CASHR functions have been successfully tested and migrated to the Austraclear production system. Settlement mangers were advised by Fax of these changes on 1/12/04. An extra line of 60 characters was added to the instruction field in these functions, enabling members to add the compliance information.
Phase II - Early next year these lines will be added to the Austraclear Offline Archive system.
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REGISTRY Information |
Members are reminded that securities issued and held on the FINEWISS register can not be uplifted from Austraclear. (The system will send an error message if a member attempts to uplift a FINEWISS registered security).
The issuers and their Austraclear codes are:
ABN AMRO Bank N.V. New Zealand Branch (ABNF)
ANZ National Bank Limited (ANBF)
ASB Bank Ltd (ASBF)
Bank of New Zealand (BNZF)
Carter Holt Harvey Limited (CAHF)
Citibank (CBNF)
Contact Energy Limited (CONL)
Deutsche Bank (DEUF)
GMAC Asia Pacific Treasury Centre (GMAF)
Kiwibank Limited (KBAF)
Lion Nathan Limited (LFNF)
Rabo Australia Limited (RANF)
SABRE New Zealand (SABF)
TCNZ Finance (TCFF)
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HKBF)
Wellington International Airport Limited (WIAP)
Westpac Banking Corporation (WPAF)
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.
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Mnemonic |
Name |
Membership |
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ABCM70 |
ABN AMRO Craig’s Cash Management Trust |
Assc |
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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)
Submission on NZX Central Clearing House (CCH) proposal 30 August
2004
Austraclear New Zealand members
Independent auditor's report to the
System Operator of Austraclear New Zealand for quarter ending 30 September 2004
2 November 2004 (PDF 46KB)
Financial Services Group Customer Service Contacts
22 October 2004
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 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 Effective 01 July 2004
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
Summary of key points and issues raised at the Austraclear November 2004
User Group Meeting
The summary below covers the key points made at the Usergroup meeting. Copies of the presentation are available from our website www.rbnz.govt.nz or by phoning Jaimee Taylor on (04) 471 3708.
1. The Last 6 Months
Mike Wolyncewicz opened the meeting and outlined the changes that included combining the Austraclear Operations Team and ESAS/Settlements Team. Mike thanked Peter Katz for his excellent contribution to the Austraclear Operations Team over the past eight years. Adrienne Barlow was introduced as the new Manager of the combined team – Payment and Settlement Services.
Adrienne introduced the new team leaders and advised that the Help Desks have been combined also, the number for calls is 64 4 417 3918.
2. Project Update
- Hours of Operations (HoO) software was successfully implemented in September.
Changes that came with this software are –
- Members are no longer shut out of the system at 7pm.
- Cash cut-off wait time has been shortened by 15 mins from 5.15pm to 5.00pm.
- Members will no longer be able to input future dated equities between 5.00 pm & 7.00pm.
- All members will be able to make enquiries, print reports, input future dated transactions (excluding equities) and transfer fixed interest securities free of payment for same value date.
ESAS account holders and CLS have the ability to fully use of the system for current value day for everything (excluding equities after 4.45pm).
CLS trialling and contingency testing has gone extremely well. We had a very positive email from CLS after the last contingency test on Wednesday night.
- We are redeveloping the Austraclear Archive and Datacom is to take over the management of it. Testing is due to start very soon with delivery of Phase I Development work has already started on Phase II.
Phase I includes moving the system to Datacom and making the Archive directly accessible to members (currently only Reserve Bank have access to the archive). Phase II is for enhancements. With the porting to Datacom members will have online access to the data.
3. Possible Future Projects
- STP with Registries
- SWIFT Interface to Austraclear
- Next major upgrade due 2006
- The market will be consulted before the Bank incurs any future major expenditure.
Given the next upgrade will involve significant expenditure the Bank asked that a working group be formed by FMOA to consider all options. As previously indicated, the Bank intends to continue to operate the Austraclear system and ensure it is maintained appropriately until an alternative service provider emerges that is acceptable to the market, that is robust, has open access and offers competitive terms.
4. STP Options and Network Enhancement
- Kevin Jamieson gave an overview of the H2H Lite module and FTP transaction status file.
- The Austraclear network was upgraded during September/October. All wide area links are now encrypted using triple DES. This upgrade also enhances the system for further improvements.
5. NZCSD Business Activity
Change Request -
- Changes to the CASHP/R screens to enable members to comply with FATF.
Phase I – increase the instruction field from 2 to 3 lines of 60 characters (available end of 2004).
Phase II – add these lines to the archive system early next year.
- Changes to some administration functions so that members can update their contact details on the system.
- System switch – to simplify the switching between our Wellington production system and the Auckland DR system. Some members will be contacted early next year to participate in testing.
Business Activity and Fee Review -
- Members were advised that the volumes and values have been reasonably consistent over the last 2-3years, but we will be reviewing the fees early next year. It is likely fees will increase next July given the reduction in the depository profit over the last 2 years.
Depository Rating –
- Thomas Murray do assessments of markets (including depositories) throughout the world based on equity settlement, custodial services and other market factors. New Zealand’s rating is very good at 9th out of the 89 countries surveyed. Areas for improvement are – ensuring there are fewer equity trade fails, improvement of DRP arrangements and inefficiencies in the transfer of equities.
6. Registry Overview
- Dave Mitchell from Computershare Investor Services Limited gave an overview of how a registry works and areas of the world covered by Computershare.
- Other Business
- FINEWISS – this function is now open at all times to issuers that are members of the FINEWISS Registry.
- Securities in Austraclear –
Members were reminded that all securities are not necessarily acceptable to Austraclear. Accepted securities must be payable in NZ dollars, have a paying agent in Austraclear (other than the Reserve Bank), no unusual tax features and preferably a New Zealand registry.
- Corporate Actions – immediately we are aware of an action we endeavour to get as much information and pass it on to the beneficial owners as soon as possible. Any really complex actions we will organise a conference call with the registry and interested parties.
