Reserve Bank, NZX in talks about JV for clearing and settlement services
Dec. 2 (BusinessWire) – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand and NZX Ltd. are in talks about a possible joint venture that
would combine the stock exchange’s settlements system with the central bank’s Austraclear system.
The negotiations follow suggestions from the Capital Markets Taskforce that a single system may serve the nation’s
capital markets better and drum up interest from overseas investors. The NZX is in the process of upgrading its
settlements system and looking to add new types of securities including milk powder futures.
“As a first step the bank and NZX will undertake a review to determine the feasibility of jointly providing the clearing
and settlement functions of the two organizations,” they said in a joint statement.
In August, NZX chief executive Mark Weldon said New Zealand doesn’t need two settlement systems and there was
potentially no need for the bourse operator to run its own settlements.
Austraclear offers real time gross settlement for bonds, bills, notes, equity and matching currency pairs.
(BusinessWire)