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?	DTCC: DTCC has not changed its published settlement timetable in the last twelve months. FED: The FRB system has not changed its published settlement timetable in the last twelve months.
	Extend the time of opening for settlement input by users?	Although users can request extensions, the depository ultimately decides whether an extension will be granted. As such, the number of times extensions have been provided to the 'street' does not provide an accurate measure of the service level provided by these depositories.
	Delay start of day processing?	See above response.
2.	Does the depository operate real time or multiple batch processing for settlement?	DTCC: Securities settle on a gross real time basis, while cash settles on a multilateral net basis at the end of day. FED: Securities and cash settle real-time via the FRB system.
3.	Does the depository allow interactive communication (on line real time) with its users, enabling settlement input and amendment?	DTCC: Yes, most participants communicate with the DTCC using mainframe to mainframe links, such as the main frame dual host or MDH, which are as real time as possible - this form of communication link allows larger DTCC participants to transmit a high volume of transactions with ease. In addition, there are other communication tools that can be used, such as dial ups, LAN to network access, proprietary terminals (PTS) and PC Web, to be rolled out this year. FED: Yes, the Fed allows for main frame links, which is real time and also has a PC product that smaller volume participants use which is called Fedline.
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?	Following the events of 11 Sept 2001, DTCC and FED have proven that alternate sites had appropriate recovery plans.