Euroclear France, the central securities depository of France, is to reduce the fees it charges clients for using its SBI post-trade confirmation service.
Effective 1 January 1, 2006, the new tariffs will cut users’ costs by an average of 10%, generating total savings for SBI clients of EUR 1.2 million.
SBI – Socits de Bourse Intermdiaires – enables brokers on Euronext Paris to confirm to custodians the execution of their clients’ trades, both institutional and retail. It also provides for the automatic clearing and settlement of these transactions. Since the beginning of 2005, almost 17 million transactions have been processed on the SBI system.
Furthermore, in co-operation with the French Association of Investment Firms (AFEI) and the Association of Securities Professionals (AFTI), Euroclear France has established a new working group to oversee the medium-to-long term development of the SBI service. The working group is composed of a range of user interests – including brokers, custodians and institutional clients – and has been charged specifically with examining the possible extension of SBI to other European markets and other instruments.
Jol Mrre, chief executive officer of Euroclear France, said: “This tariff reduction, the second since 2004, reinforces Euroclear France’s strong commitment to continuing to offer competitive settlement services for equity transactions. It also underscores our plan to extend the SBI service to other Euronext markets in the context of the ESES programme (Euroclear Settlement of Euronext-zone Securities). In addition, the creation of the SBI working group demonstrates our determination to develop confirmation services which reflect and respond to the needs of market users.”
Emmanuel de Fournoux, AFEI’s Director of Market Infrastructure and a member of Euroclear’s Market Advisory Committee for France, will chair the new working group. He added: “SBI is already used very extensively on Euronext Paris, with all the major players there being connected to it. Expanding its use even further will enable the market to properly tackle the issues of automation and risk management that are becoming increasingly important in the trade-confirmation domain.”