Recommendation 1 Recommendation 2 Recommendation 3 Recommendation 4

Recommendation 5 Recommendation 6 Recommendation 7 Recommendation 8

Market selection

Recommendation 2

Securities Systems must allow the option of network access on an interactive basis. They should cope with peak capacity without any service degradation, and have sufficient standby capabilities to recover operations in a reasonably short period within each processing day.

1.	How often, over the last twelve months, has the depository been required to:
	Change its published settlement timetable?	Austraclear Twice. RITS Nil. CHESS Nil.
	Extend the time of opening for settlement input by users?	Austraclear Twice. RITS The end of day cut-off has been extended by 15 minutes or more on 7 occasions over the last twelve months. These extensions have been at the market's request to accommodate additional settlements. There have been no extensions due to RITS technical problems. CHESS From time to time ASTC is requested by a participant to delay settlement cut off time on a day, typically because the participant is experiencing in house system problems that have delayed their entry of transactions to CHESS. Cut off has been extended by 15 minutes (from 10.30 am to 10.45 am Sydney time) on some 25 occasions over the last twelve months.
	Delay start of day processing?	Austraclear Nil. RITS Once (but not due to a RITS technical problem). CHESS One occasion, attributable to a bug in a new CHESS software release.
2.	Does the depository operate real time or multiple batch processing for settlement?	Austraclear Real time. RITS Real time. RITS is both a securities depository (for Commonwealth Government securities) and Australia's real-time gross settlement system. It provides for real time type I (BIS definition) Delivery versus Payment settlement for securities settlements in RITS and Austraclear (as an RTGS feeder system). CHESS Real time for FOP security transfers and RTGS feeder settlements. The bulk of transactions are however settled on a batch basis.
3.	Does the depository allow interactive communication (on line real time) with its users, enabling settlement input and amendment?	Austraclear Yes, via the online Austraclear TCP/IP network. RITS Yes, via the online Austraclear TCP/IP network. CHESS Technically no, since the system architecture is based on host-to-host messaging, with messages processed through message queues. However under normal conditions message turnaround time is within minutes, although under the Securities Clearing House (SCH) Business Rules ASTC commits to a 1 hour turnaround time.
4.	Has the depository ever failed to recover an outage within the day or failed to start processing runs for a whole day; and, if so, when did that failure arise and what steps have been taken to prevent a similar event in the future?	Austraclear No. RITS No. CHESS Yes - one occasion, on 8 October 1999, due to an Oracle relational database (RdB) software problem. Steps taken: Improved problem escalation procedures with Oracle.