DTCC Developing Derivatives Industry Infrastructure, and more

DTCC to Create OTC Derivatives Infrastructure

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) plans to create a central industry trade information warehouse and support infrastructure to automate and centralize "downstream" processing over the life of an over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives contract.

The first release, planned for midyear 2006, will support downstream processing and include the ability to maintain the current state of each contract, and calculate and bilaterally net the cash flows associated with each contract. Additional processes may be considered with industry support.

The move comes with anticipation that market growth for OTC derivatives will continue its rapid expansion.

"We view the maintenance and support of OTC derivatives contracts over their life as the next big issue facing the industry," said Michael Bodson, chairman of DTCC's OTC Derivatives Operations and Planning Committee, in a release. "This represents a giant leap forward to solve that problem and is essential to support expected market growth. We expect that the industry will see enormous efficiency gains and operational risk reduction."

DTCC is working closely with 11 global dealers to develop the concept and design of this industry infrastructure solution. The trade warehouse and support infrastructure is being designed to eventually accommodate other OTC derivatives, including rates, equities, FX and commodities derivatives, according to the release.

Interpay and Transaktioninstitut Plan Merger

Interpay Nederland and Transaktioninstitut fur Zahlungsverkehrsdienstleistungen AG, two payment processors based in the Netherlands and Germany respectively, have announced their intention to establish a merger. In doing so, Interpay and Transaktioninstitut will become the first European full-service payment processor in a consolidating payments market.

The combined volume of the partnership between Interpay and Transaktioninstitut will account for the processing and clearing of approximately 6.6 billion transactions annually. The combined market share of the new entity in the Euro zone will be over 10 percent, according to the release.

"The combined volumes of the two processors will result in considerable increase in scale, and will enhance important synergy and scale advantages in the future," said Ben Haasdijk, CEO of Interpay, in a release.

The merger is also expected to facilitate the realization of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and will be prepared to offer SEPA products on the day it begins. The new entity formed by Interpay and Transaktioninstitut will facilitate speed, security, convenience and cost efficiency of payments within the Euro zone. The deal is expected to be completed by mid-2006.

HSBC Chooses Tradermade for Mobile Data Delivery

HSBC has selected analytics vendor Tradermade International to help deliver real-time charts and quotes via mobile devices for its global treasury staff.

Available on BlackBerry devices, mobile phones and PDAs, TM-Cell offers a mobile window into the recent price action of a number of FX rates, precious metals, commodities, futures and stock indices. No software needs to be downloaded onto the device and a simple bookmarked page enables quick and easy access.

Communication costs are also kept to a minimum due to the efficient delivery mechanism of the chart images, according to the release.

"It's one thing to see real-time market prices on your mobile device, but it's a real bonus to be able to view a chart of the last few hours," said Alan Clarke, global head of e-commerce FX at HSBC, in a release. "With their high-quality data and innovative technology, TraderMade have enabled us to equip our staff with the information they require, 24/7."

Banks of Mexico Select TIBCO

Mexican banks BANORTE and Toyota Services of Mexico have both selected TIBCO Software's business process management (BPM) platform—TIBCO Staffware Process Suite—as the standard BPM solution for their respective organizations. The banks will use TIBCO Staffware Process Suite to facilitate communication and collaboration across systems, improve access to relevant information and monitor business processes in real-time.

Toyota Services of Mexico implemented TIBCO Staffware Process Suite to integrate existing software applications, automate manual processes, and improve business decision making through the use of a rules engine.

BANORTE, Mexico's third largest bank, is using TIBCO's BPM platform to automate processes, virtually eliminating manual transactions and making more processes paperless. This has resulted in improvements in overall efficiency and reduced operation cost for the bank, according to the release.

"The platform's complete set of functionality has helped optimize our processes, providing us with greater visibility and agility to aggressively react in a timely manner to customer demands and changing market dynamics," said BANORTE CIO, Prudencio Frigolet, in a release.

TIBCO Staffware Process Suite provides users with key components required to automate and integrate their processes with underlying systems. The platform is delivered with a user interface based on Asynchronous, JavaScript and XML technologies and system management capabilities that help reduce downtime and ensure availability of IT operations and access to data.