Wiener Börse and OeKB establish central counterparty for all transactions concluded on Wiener Börse
Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG (OeKB), which acts as a clearing and settlement agency for cash products, and Wiener Börse AG, which acts as exchange operating company and clearing house for derivatives, have founded a joint company which will assume the function of a central counterparty for the entire Vienna stock market as of 1 January 2005.
Central Counterparty Austria GmbH (CCP.A) will act as the responsible central counterparty for the clearing and risk management of all trades concluded on Wiener Börse and will assume and manage the performance and default risk involved in the clearing and settlement of securities and derivatives transactions. To date, such an institution existed only for the derivatives market, but not for stock transactions (cash market) at Wiener Börse. Wolfgang Aubrunner, head of OeKB’s clearing & network business, and Ludwig Nießen, Head of Information Services at Wiener Börse AG, act as managing directors of the CCP.A company, which boasts a lean organisational structure.
By combining the settlement of cash and derivatives transactions on the basis of standards developed by the ECB and the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR), Wiener Börse and its clearing house OeKB have taken an important step towards the harmonisation of clearing and settlement practices among the leading European markets: "The central counterparty as central contact will make the domestic capital market infrastructure even more efficient," says Wolfgang Aubrunner, Managing Director of CCP.A. "By introducing a central counterparty we have implemented an important measure of the action plan for the Austrian capital market."
CCP Austria is set to enhance Austria's position on the Central and Eastern European capital market
CCP.A is also meant to strengthen the position of the comparatively small domestic capital market: "An efficiently organised Vienna stock market working in close partnership with neighbouring clearing and settlement institutions is an attractive alternative to the major competitors in the Central and Eastern European clearing business", says Ludwig Nießen, CCP.A Managing Director.
Improving the competitiveness of the Austrian capital market
Dr. Erich Obersteiner, Member of the Management Board of Wiener Börse AG, also regards the establishment of a central counterparty as a means for strengthening the Austrian capital market: "During the past few years, we have set up a new organisational structure for Wiener Börse and adapted our infrastructure to the requirements of the modern capital market business. The establishment of a central counterparty for the Austrian cash and derivatives market represents another important milestone on the path to an efficient and competitive capital market".
