OCC and Securities Finance Trust Company (SFTC) have introduced Auction Platform Services (APS) to aid OCC with its default management process.

APS is a secure, web-based portal that provides OCC with the ability for listing auction assets, centralised bid submissions and management/audit reporting. OCC will use SFTC’s hosted software APS to achieve administrative efficiency and cost savings.

APS was used to conduct OCC’s most recent default management simulation exercise with successful participation from clearing members in November.

SFTC developed APS to help address regulatory concerns and provide central counterparties with the level of automation and reporting functionality that demonstrates to regulators, auditors, boards of directors and compliance groups that their default management process is conducted in a controlled environment.

“OCC’s ability to conduct auctions of cleared contracts and collateral is a key component of its default management programme,” said John Fennell, OCC senior vice president, risk management & treasury operations. “APS was designed to bring automation and scalability to OCC’s existing auction process.”

“As trade volumes rise, CCPs around the globe are coming under increasing regulatory scrutiny, particularly as it relates to their default management procedures and the associated technology used to support them. They need to demonstrate that their asset liquidation process is conducted in a disciplined, efficient and risk controlled manner, while protecting non-defaulting members from undue loss,” said Chris Poikonen, executive vice president SFTC.