The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) announced the integration of a new collateral management system into ENCORE, its real-time clearing system.
ENCORE release 4.5 brings expanded user capabilities, improved process and approval times, and increased transparency. The system underwent a rigorous, live test when daily options volume peaked on April 15, 2005 at 11,254,044 contracts, just two weeks after ENCORE 4.5’s implementation.
“The collateral component of ENCORE was the most complex module, and it’s performing brilliantly, even at our highest transaction volumes,” said Michael Cahill, President, OCC. “The upgrade allows for critical, real-time connections to not only our clearing members, but to The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and more than 30 banks.”
The final, major component of ENCORE will be a new margin system, an upgrade scheduled for completion by year-end.
ENCORE 4.5 improvements include: clearing members can now freely allocate letters of credit across separate member accounts; collateral depository receipts are now offered in paperless format; real-time collateral values can be obtained at any time online; and application timing of pledged securities is fully synched with DTCC.