OeKB CSD's New System

In order to remain up-to-date with the changes in T2S and the efforts of the operational business, UniCredit Bank Austria became a member of the T2S Advisory Group, the National User Group under the leadership of the Austrian National Bank, OeKB CSD, the Technical User Group under the leadership of the Austrian National Bank and the Corporate Actions National Implementation Group.

UniCredit Bank Austria status

In January 2016 the testing phase with the Austrian CSD for the implementation of all the new T2S features started:

• hold / release mechanism
• night-time-settlement
• new matching criteria (additional and optional)
• new matching tolerance
• automated prioritisation logic
• new instruction types (delivery with payment, receipt with payment, payment free of delivery)

The analysis phase focused on streamlining the internal processing against an external settlement procedure so as to ensure an increase in the STP rate for the clients of UniCredit Bank Austria. Therefore, the STP requirements that were sent out in April 2015 to avoid any misunderstanding with our clients are still valid.

Our system was also adjusted to accept SWIFT MT530, ensuring an automated amendment of the hold and release status and prioritisation.

The adaptations of our system related to transaction management and the CCPA changes are in progress and should be finished by September.

Claims management in Austria will not be fully aligned with T2S standards as it requires an independent settlement for claims and original transactions. UniCredit Bank Austria aims to automate "release" claims for rights, however the structure of our CSD omnibus account might lead to short positioning of our client holdings with an automated release. Therefore, any release from an omnibus account should only be executed upon instruction. The ex/cum and opt-out flags will be used only for matching but will not be considered for the creation of the claims.

Official end-to-end testing from clients via agent, national CSD and T2S will start in September 2016. Regardless of the migration plan, the clients of UniCredit Bank Austria are offered testing on bilateral basis upon request.