Recommendation 1 Recommendation 2 Recommendation 3 Recommendation 4

Recommendation 5 Recommendation 6 Recommendation 7 Recommendation 8

Market selection

Recommendation 3

The industry worldwide must satisfy the need for efficient, fast settlement by full adherence to the International Securities Numbering process (ISO 6166) and uniform usage of ISO 15022 based standards for all securities messages. The industry should seek to introduce a global client and counterpart identification methodology (BIC - ISO 9362) to further facilitate straight through processing. Applications and programmes should be structured in such a way as to facilitate open inter-action between all parties.

1.	Does the market use ISIN as the primary securities identification code?	Austraclear No. Whilst ISIN codes are not the primary securities identification code the Austraclear system does allocate and record ISIN codes for all Fixed Interest securities lodged into the system. RITS No. Whilst ISIN codes are not the primary securities identification code the RITS system does allocate and record ISIN codes for all securities lodged into it. CHESS ISINs are available and supported by CHESS, but are not widely used as the prime identifier for securities.
2.	Are the major participants in the market linked electronically?	Austraclear Yes. RITS Yes. CHESS Yes.
3.	Does the depository communicate using true (i.e. not bilaterally agreed on sub-standards) ISO standards for securities messaging?	Austraclear Yes - for the Austraclear SWIFT interface (currently ISO 7775. Austraclear will migrate to ISO 15022 in October 2001. No - for Proprietary interfaces e.g. HTH (Host to Host) Lite (the messages are SWIFT based). RITS Securities messaging is not used in RITS. However, in conjunction with Austraclear, specifications have been developed for the future introduction of the new series of ISO 15022 compliant SWIFT securities messages. CHESS ISO standards do not cover the full range of messaging requirements. A proprietary message protocol is used.
4.	Does the market operate standard identification codes for counterparties or client accounts and, if so, how do (or could) these fit into a single global identification methodology?	Austraclear No. All Austraclear members are issued with a member code or mnemonic which is recognised domestically. RITS No. RITS members are issued with a member code or mnemonic which is recognised domestically. Members identify client accounts within their own records. Potentially, the above member mnemonics could be mapped against SWIFT BIC addresses (where available) for use in cross-border straight through processing. CHESS Participants are identified by a five digit CHESS participant identifier. These are specific to CHESS, but if there was a need to do so, they could be mapped to a single global identifier methodology. The majority of CHESS participants are domestic organisations.