SIX today announced that its Triparty Agent system has successfully gone live. As the key financial infrastructure provider for Switzerland, SIX invented and operates the multi-currency repo trading platform. The system is used by over 170 domestic and international clients, ranging from regional banks to Swiss insurance companies and the Swiss National Bank (SNB). By launching its new Triparty Agent, SIX strengthens the Swiss financial infrastructure and its commitment to the repo and securities finance business.
The Triparty Agent with its user interface Collateral Cockpit™ manages on behalf of the counterparties secured transactions such as repos. This encompasses the automated allocation and settlement of collateral and covering of margin calls. Thanks to the highly automated system, no manual interventions are needed to perform these processes while operational risks are minimized. The visualization of the availability and usage of collateral reaches an unprecedented level of user friendliness. This centralized service provides benefits to all clients by reducing back office interventions and costs and strengthens a higher grade of automation.
The new Triparty Agent is a central and essential element for the Swiss repo market. The SNB performs its open market operations in Swiss francs on this infrastructure and also concludes repo transactions in US-dollars in the form of auctions with its counterparties. In connection with the Swiss Repo Market the new Triparty Agent further increases the attractiveness of secured financing, thus strengthening the stability of the financial system. The partnership with the specialists from Calypso and the integration partner Synechron, enabled to tackle the complexity of this important infrastructure with the required software and expertise.
Based on this renewed foundation, further services are planned and about to be implemented in order to address regulatory changes (i.e. transaction reporting) and a wide range of additional possibilities in using and optimizing collateral.
Commenting on the launch, Valerio Roncone, Head Future Business, Securities & Exchanges, SIX said: “The collateral management process has – until now – been fragmented and unwieldly for many stakeholders. With our new Triparty Agent, we have created a hub that will harness the power of automation and intelligent data usage to give repo professionals, traders, treasury professionals, and other stakeholders full control over their collateral. Through this technology, manual tasks like monitoring and adjusting will no longer require attention, and professionals can focus on what matters: driving efficiency, accountability, and accuracy.”
Thomas Moser, Alternate Member of the Governing Board, Swiss National Bank, comments: “The new Triparty Agent is an essential part of the renewal of the Swiss money market infrastructure. The SNB relies on this infrastructure to perform its open market operations. For Swiss banks and insurance companies, it is a crucial and direct way to manage their liquidity needs. We congratulate SIX for the successful launch of this impressive integrated and automated system.”
According to François-Bernard Mizrahi, Managing Director, Synechron: “We, together with the Swiss Stock Exchange and backed by our partner Calypso, are very proud to have contributed to the success of this innovative and major project for the Swiss financial infrastructure. The project combines all our financial software implementation expertise acquired over the years. We are confident and excited about phase-2 of the project which has already begun.”
Richard Bentley , Chief Product and Engineering Officer, Calypso: “Calypso is proud to have partnered with SIX and Synechron to help deliver the ambitious FTPA vision. More than ever, In today’s volatile markets the need for efficient allocation and optimisation of collateral is critical for firms to achieve efficiency and scale. The FTPA initiative plays to Calypso’s core strengths of comprehensive collateral management capabilities, which can be easily customised to deliver truly ground-breaking, innovative services. We congratulate SIX on this achievement, which will deliver tremendous value to market participants.”