First swap transactions between the Swedish National Debt Office and SEB cleared
Stockholm, June 22, 2010 — NASDAQ OMX (NASDAQ:NDAQ) announces the launch of a
pilot project together with SEB and the Swedish National Debt Office
(Riksgälden) through which it will offer central counterparty clearing (CCP) of
Interest Rate Swaps (IRS). NASDAQ OMX has also initiated a strategic dialogue
with all major swap dealers in Sweden, with the aim to build a full scale
clearinghouse for IRS in Swedish kronor (SEK).
Previously, SEK denominated IRS, a market with an average daily turnover of 30
billion SEK, have been collateralized and settled bilaterally. The first
transactions were successfully registered for clearing yesterday.
Interest Rate Swaps are typically traded over-the-counter (OTC) with limited
pre- and post-trade transparency. As the major derivative instrument traded OTC
globally, the aggregated outstanding notional amount was 349 trillion USD at
year-end 2009. Interest Rate Swaps have since the financial turmoil in 2008
been subject to proposals by legislators both in the U.S. and Europe to
introduce mandatory CCP clearing and to increase pre- and post trade
transparency. Swap dealers may therefore soon be obliged to clear IRS through a
CCP, a service that is now available by NASDAQ OMX for SEK-denominated swaps.
“Through the IRS central counterparty clearing offering, NASDAQ OMX is building
a Nordic clearing house that covers all Fixed Income instruments,” says Erik
Thedéen, Head of Nordic Fixed Income and President NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. “This
service will reduce the administrative burden and, more importantly, bring with
it a reduction of counterparty risk for market participants and thereby improve
financial stability. The ability to net multiple post-trade transactions
through a central counterparty also allows our market participants to reduce
collateral significantly.”
About Interest Rate Swaps
An interest rate swap is a financial instrument under which exchange of cash
flows between two parties occurs at future dates. In its most common form, the
interest rate swap entails an agreement to at a set date pay a fixed rate in
exchange for a floating interest rate that is usually pegged to a reference
rate.
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 more than 3,600 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
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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
The NASDAQ Stock Market and NASDAQ OMX Group's other 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 Group's control. These
factors include, but are not limited to factors detailed in NASDAQ OMX Group'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.
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Media Contacts:
Anna Rasin
+46 8 405 66 12
anna.rasin@nasdaqomx.com
NDAQF
