Euronext.liffe To Launch Final Part Of Its Wholesale Services Offering - Afirm - On 28 November

Euronext.liffe, the international derivatives business of Euronext, today announced that it will launch Afirm, its new ‘off-exchange’ OTC post-trade matching service for the wholesale equity derivatives market, on 28 November 2005. Afirm completes the trio of fully integrated transactional products announced by Euronext.liffe in April, which addressed various major challenges faced by the OTC market, and which was welcomed by the user community. The trio provide straight through processing (STP) from pre-trade price discovery to post-trade registration, administration and clearing of wholesale equity derivatives.

Afirm offers affirmation or matching as a route to confirmation for wholesale equity derivatives trades and can be accessed through either the Internet or an FpML (Financial products Mark-up Language) enabled solution that is integrated into customers’ proprietary systems. The service is geared towards providing reduced operational risk and enhanced operational efficiency, centreing on rapid confirmation of trades without the requirement for extended manual processes. When used in conjunction with Cscreen, Afirm users will also benefit from greater savings by bridging the manual processes between pre-trade price discovery and post-trade confirmation.

Afirm can either be used as a stand-alone service or in conjunction with Cscreen, the pre-trade price discovery platform acquired by Euronext.liffe in April. Users requiring an on-exchange administration and clearing service will also have access to Bclear, launched on 24 October, a service that offers an innovative, low-cost facility for the booking of wholesale equity derivative transactions.

Euronext.liffe’s Chief Executive, Hugh Freedberg, said: “Afirm is the final element of our fully integrated wholesale equity derivatives service. This service will provide customers with an efficient and cost-effective facility for pre-trade price discovery and for submission to clearing or to the Afirm post-trade matching service, on a straight through processing basis.”