DOWNLOAD REF. NO. NSE/CMPT/4189

 

NATIONAL SECURITIES CLEARING CORPORATION LIMITED

FUTURES & OPTIONS SEGMENT

 

Circular No. NSCC/F&O/C&S/197                                                                    June 10, 2003

 

Subject: Introduction of Futures on Interest Rate

 

In pursuance of Rules and Regulations of the Futures and Options Segment of NSCCL, and in partial modification of NSCCL Circular No. NSCCL/F&O/C&S/181/2003 dated April 23, 2003, Clearing Members of the F&O segment are hereby notified the details for clearing and settlement of Interest Rate Futures, as enclosed. The effective date of the circular is June 13, 2003.

 

For any further clarifications members may contact the following officials of the Clearing Corporation:

 

NATIONAL SECURITIES CLEARING CORPORATION LIMITED :

Mr. Dinesh Ranade, Mr. Vikram Kothari, Mr Umesh Bali

Phone Nos.022 26598165, 26598265

Fax No. 022 26598243

 

 

 

For National Securities Clearing Corporation Limited

 

 

 

R Sundararaman

Assistant Vice President

 


 

1. SETTLEMENT PROCEDURE

 

Daily Mark to Market Settlement and Final settlement for Interest Rate Futures Contract 

1.1 Daily Mark to Market settlement and Final Mark to Market settlement in respect of admitted deals in Interest Rate Futures Contracts shall be cash settled by debiting/ crediting of the clearing accounts of Clearing Members with the respective Clearing Bank.

 

1.2 All positions (brought forward, created during the day, closed out during the day) of a F&O Clearing Member in Futures Contracts, at the close of trading hours on a day, shall be marked to market at the Daily Settlement Price (for Daily Mark to Market Settlement) and settled.

 

1.3 All positions (brought forward, created during the day, closed out during the day) of a F&O Clearing Member in Futures Contracts, at the close of trading hours on the last trading day, shall be marked to market at Final Settlement Price (for Final Settlement) and settled.

 

1.4 Daily Settlement Price shall be the closing price of the relevant Futures contract for the Trading day. However, in the absence of trading for a contract, in the last half an hour, daily settlement price shall be computed in the manner specified in item 3.1.

 

1.5 Final settlement price for an Interest rate Futures Contract shall be based on  the value of the notional bond determined using the zero coupon yield curve computed by National Stock Exchange or by any other agency as may be nominated in this regard.

 

1.6 Open positions in a Futures contract shall cease to exist after its expiration day.

2.  CLEARING DAYS AND SCHEDULED TIME

 

Daily Mark to Market Settlement and Final settlement for Interest Rate Futures Contracts

 

The settlement schedule for Daily Mark to Market settlement and Final settlement of interest rate futures contracts will be as detailed below:

 

Daily Mark to Market settlement where ‘T’ is the trading day

Mark to market payin :   T+1 working day  on or after 11.30 a.m.

Mark to market payout :   T+1 working day on or after  12.00 p.m.

 

Final settlement where ‘T’ is the expiration day of a contract.

Final settlement payin :  T+1 working day on or after 11.30 a.m.

Final settlement payout :  T+1 working day  on or after 12.00 p.m

 

3.  SETTLEMENT PRICE

 

3.1 Daily Settlement Price for mark to market settlement of interest rate futures contracts

 

Daily settlement price for an Interest Rate Futures Contract shall be the closing price of such Interest Rate Futures Contract on the trading day. The closing price for an interest rate futures contract shall be calculated on the basis of the last half an hour weighted average price of such interest rate futures contract. In absence of trading in the last half an hour, the theoretical price would be taken or such other price as may be decided by the relevant authority from time to time.

 

Theoretical daily settlement price for unexpired futures contracts, shall be the futures prices computed using the (price of the notional bond) spot prices arrived at from the applicable ZCYC Curve. The ZCYC shall be computed by the Exchange or by any other agency as may be nominated in this regard from the prices of Government securities traded on the Exchange or reported on the Negotiated Dealing System of RBI or both taking trades of same day settlement(i.e. t = 0).  

 

In respect of zero coupon notional bond, the price of the bond shall be the present value of the principal payment discounted using discrete discounting for the specified period at the respective zero coupon yield. In respect of the notional T-bill, the settlement price shall be 100 minus the annualized yield for the specified period computed using the zero coupon yield curve. In respect of coupon bearing notional bond, the present value shall be obtained as the sum of present value of the principal payment discounted at the relevant zero coupon yield and the present values of the coupons obtained by discounting each notional coupon payment at the relevant zero coupon yield for that maturity.  For this purpose the notional coupon payment date shall be half yearly and commencing from the date of expiry of the relevant futures contract.

 

For computation of futures prices from the price of the notional bond (spot prices) thus arrived, the rate of interest may be the relevant MIBOR rate or such other rate as may be specified from time to time.

 

3.2 Final Settlement Price for mark to market settlement of interest rate futures contracts

 

Final settlement price for an Interest rate Futures Contract on zero coupon notional bond and coupon bearing bond shall be based on  the price of the notional bond determined using the zero coupon yield curve computed as explained above. In respect of notional T-bill it shall be 100 minus the annualised yield for the specified period computed using the zero coupon yield curve.

 

3.3  Settlement value in respect of notional T-bill

 

Since the T-bills are priced at 100 minus the relevant annualised yield, the settlement value shall be arrived at using the relevant multiplier factor. Currently it shall be 91/365

 

4. MARGINS

 

4.1       Initial Margins

 

Initial margin shall be payable on all open positions of Clearing Members, upto client level, at any point of time, and shall be payable upfront by Clearing Members in accordance with the margin computation mechanism and/ or system as may be adopted by Clearing Corporation from time to time. Presently, the initial margins would be based on the zero coupon yield curve computed at the end of the day as explained above with trades of same day settlement (t =0). However, in case of large deviation between the yields generated using only t = 0 trades and all trades, initial margins revised accordingly may be computed and collected by the Clearing corporation from the members at its discretion.

Initial Margin shall include SPAN margins and such other additional margins, that may be specified by  Clearing Corporation  from time to time.

 

4.2       Computation of Initial Margin

 

Clearing Corporation will adopt SPAN (Standard Portfolio Analysis of Risk) system or any other system for the purpose of real time initial margin computation. 

 

Initial margin requirements shall be based on 99% value at risk over a one day time horizon. Provided, however, in the case of futures contracts, where it may not be possible to collect mark to market settlement value, before the commencement of trading on the next day, the initial margin  may be computed over a two day time horizon, applying the appropriate statistical formula.

 

The methodology for computation of Value at Risk percentage  will be as per the recommendations of SEBI from time to time.

 

Initial margin requirement for a member:

a. For client positions - shall be netted at the level of individual client and grossed across all clients, at the Trading/ Clearing Member level, without any setoffs between clients.

b. For proprietary positions - shall be netted at Trading/ Clearing Member level without any set offs between client and proprietary positions.

For this purpose, various parameters shall be as specified hereunder or such other parameters as may be specified by the relevant authority from time to time:

 

4.2.1 Price scan range

In the case of Notional Bond Futures, the price scan range shall be 3.5 Standard Deviation (3.5 sigma) and in no case the initial margin shall be less than 2% of the notional value of the Futures Contracts, which shall be scaled up by look ahead period as may be specified from time to time. For Notional T-Bill Futures, the price scan range shall be 3.5 Standard Deviation (3.5 sigma) and in no case the initial margin shall be less than 0.2% of the notional value of the futures contract, which shall be scaled up by look ahead period as may be specified from time to time.

 

4.2.2 Calendar Spread Charge

 

The margin on calendar spread shall be calculated at a flat rate of 0.125% per month of spread on the far month contract subject to a minimum margin of 0.25% and a maximum margin of 0.75% on the far side of the spread with legs upto 1 year apart. 

 

A Calendar spread positions will be treated as non-spread (naked) positions in the far month contract, 3 trading days prior to expiration of the near month contract.

 

4.3 Exposure Limits (2nd line of defense)

 

Clearing Members shall be subject to Exposure limits in addition to initial margins. Exposure Limit shall be 100 times the liquid net worth i.e. 1% of the notional value of the gross open positions in Notional 10 year bond futures (both coupon bearing and zero coupon) and shall be 1000 times the liquid net worth i.e. 0.1% of the gross open positions in notional 91 day T-Bill futures.

 

Exposure limit for calendar spreads: the Calendar spread shall be regarded as an open position of one third of the mark to market value of the far month contract.  As the near month contract approaches expiry, the spread shall be treated as a naked position in the far month contract three days prior to the expiry of the near month contract

 

4.4 Trading Member wise/ Custodial Participant wise Position Limit

 

Each Trading Member/ Custodial Participant shall ensure that his clients do not exceed the specified position limit. The position limits shall be at the client level and for near month contracts and shall be 15% of the open interest or Rs. 100 crores, whichever is higher.

 

For futures contracts open interest shall be equivalent to the open positions in that futures contract multiplied by its last available closing price.