Borsa Italiana announced Wednesday that it has signed a 5-year agreement with OMX to have the Nordic exchange provide IT operations for IDEM, Borsa Italiana’s derivatives.
This agreement will have OMX work closely with BIt Systems, Borsa Italiana’s IT company, to oversee members’ connectivity, customer support and application management. OMX will provide central systems infrastructure, technical operations and network services to Borsa Italiana.
“To be chosen to provide IT operations for Borsa Italiana’s derivatives market IDEM is an acknowledgement of our position as an expert in the exchange industry”, says Magnus Bcker, CEO of OMX. “Including Borsa Italiana’s derivatives market IDEM, OMX is currently operating 16 exchanges, which makes us the leading exchange outsourcing provider.”
Though OMX has worked with Borsa Italiana on IDEM since its launch in 1994, echoes of the recent foundering of the ill-fated EDX London derivatives trading platform, a joint venture between OMX and the London Stock Exchange, will likely leave some investors wary of the renewed agreement between OMX and Borsa Italiana.
In November 2005, the LSE reported impairment losses of GBP 22 million, resulting from a trade of 10.1 million contracts, stemming primarily from Scandinavian equity derivatives. Following reports of its own impairment loss of SEK21 million, OMX announced that it felt no justification to offer further investments to develop over-the-counter equity development services.