Stockholm, April 14, 2010 - NASDAQ OMX announces that it will launch a new
Nordic fund market aimed at investment fund distributors. The Nordic Fund Market
(NFM) intends to provide an electronic alternative to manage the transactions
between fund distributors and fund management companies. Today these
transactions are predominately handled manually via fax. NFM will launch in
Sweden at the end of April this year with the goal to eventually roll out the
offering in all Nordic countries.
Erik Thedéen, President at NASDAQ OMX Stockholm said, “As the number of fund
transactions continues to grow there should also be an infrastructure in place
that can accommodate this increase in demand. Through NFM we are offering an
electronic platform that will raise the general security in the system and
enable efficiency and transparency advantages that will benefit the entire fund
industry.”
The Swedish fund market has experienced significant growth during the last
decades, with over 1.600 billion SEK in AUM (Assets Under Management) in 2009
and more than 4000 funds registered. Funds from Fidelity International, one of
the world's leading fund companies, will be available on the new platform from
start.
Asgeir Thordarson, Head of Fidelity's business in the Nordic Region commented,
“We believe that initiatives to automate fund transactions are positive for the
whole industry and that these efficiency gains will benefit all parties,
including the end investor.”
The NFM platform is built upon new standards such as ISO 20022 and adapted to
EFAMA's (European Fund and Asset Management Association) FPP (Fund Processing
Passport) standard. The usage of standards enables effective connectivity
between the fund distributors' back-office system with the NFM order management
system and the fund companies' central registry system. By doing this NFM is
able to increase efficiency in the electronic validation process and decrease
the marginal cost of each transaction.
OMX Broker Services AB has from the Swedish FSA (Finansinspektionen) received
the necessary authorization to operate the NFM.
About NASDAQ OMX
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world's largest exchange company. It delivers
trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents,
with approximately 3,700 listed companies. NASDAQ OMX offers multiple capital
raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings
market, NASDAQ OMX Nordic, NASDAQ OMX Baltic, NASDAQ OMX First North, and the
U.S. 144A sector. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes
including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and
exchange-traded funds. NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 70
exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more
than 50 countries. NASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMX Baltic are not legal
entities but describe the common offering from NASDAQ OMX exchanges in Helsinki,
Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information
about NASDAQ OMX, visit http://www.nasdaqomx.com. *Please follow NASDAQ OMX on
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Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that are made
under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about
NASDAQ OMX's products and offerings. We caution that these statements are not
guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from
those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond
NASDAQ OMX's control. These factors include, but are not limited to factors
detailed in NASDAQ OMX's annual report on Form 10-K, and periodic reports filed
with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to
release any revisions to any forward-looking statements. There can be no
assurance that the FSA will give the NASDAQ OMX applicant the authorization and
permissions which it seeks.
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Media Contacts:
NASDAQ OMX
Anna Rasin
+46 8 405 6612
anna.rasin@nasdaqomx.com
Carl Norell
+46 8 405 66 39
carl.norell@nasdaqomx.com
