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ABSA, Nedbank, Rand Merchant Bank and Standard Bank join Markit Wire platform to automate OTC derivative trade processing

Johannesburg, London and New York, NY – Absa, Nedbank, Rand Merchant Bank and Standard Bank today announced they have joined the Markit Wire trade processing platform to reduce risk and improve operational efficiency in their over-the-counter (OTC) derivative businesses.

Markit Wire delivers real-time legal confirmation, trade capture and straight through processing for sell-side and buy-side firms, inter-dealer brokers and fund administrators. The platform has 280 buy-side institutions and 100 inter-dealer brokers as clients.

Gert Visser, Head of Operations for Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities at Rand Merchant Bank, said: "Rand Merchant Bank welcomes the introduction of Markit Wire to the South African financial markets. The automated confirmation of OTC derivative transactions between all trading parties, including inter-dealer brokers, banks and their buy-side clients, will reduce operational risk and enhance efficiencies significantly. Markit Wire's trade confirmation platform will help the South African banking community adopt best practice in trade processing."

Scott Wulfsohn, Head of Derivatives and Capital Markets Operations at Absa Capital, said: “Markit Wire will be of significant benefit to Absa Capital, allowing us to reduce risk across many facets of the business. Besides the obvious reduction in outstanding confirmations, the matching process will be faster and more accurate, resulting in fewer settlement discrepancies and disputes. This will allow us to support an increase in trading volumes without increasing headcount in our infrastructure groups.”

Jeff Gooch, Executive Vice President and Head of Trade Processing and Portfolio Valuations at Markit, said: “We are pleased to welcome four key South African banks on the Markit Wire platform. We look forward to working with them to automate their OTC derivative trade processing which will allow them to reduce operational risk and improve efficiency in the markets they operate.”

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Claire Gorman, Vice President, Corporate Communications - Markit on +44 20 7064 6032 or email claire.gorman@markit.com

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