14. Clearing Operations

Nordic Clearing

NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing is authorized and supervised as a European multi-asset clearinghouse by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, or SFSA, and is authorized to conduct clearing operations in Norway by the Norwegian Ministry of Finance. The clearinghouse acts as the central counterparty, or CCP, for exchange and OTC trades in equity derivatives, fixed income derivatives, physical power, power derivatives, carbon derivatives, and resale and repurchase contracts.

Through our clearing operations in the financial markets, which include the resale and repurchase market, and the commodities markets, NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing is the legal counterparty for, and guarantees the fulfillment of, each contract cleared. These contracts are not used by NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing for the purpose of trading on its own behalf. As the legal counterparty of each transaction, NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing bears the counterparty risk between the purchaser and seller in the contract. In its guarantor role, NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing has precisely equal and offsetting claims to and from clearing members on opposite sides of each contract, standing as an intermediary on every contract cleared. In accordance with the rules and regulations of NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing, clearing members’ open positions are aggregated to create a single portfolio for which default fund and margin collateral requirements are calculated. See “Default Fund Contributions and Margin Deposits” below for further discussion of NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing’s default fund and margin requirements.

NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing maintains three member sponsored default funds: one related to financial markets, one related to commodities markets, and a mutualized fund. Under this structure, NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing and its clearing members must contribute to the total regulatory capital related to the clearing operations of NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing. This structure applies an initial separation of default fund contributions for the financial and commodities markets in order to create a buffer for each market’s counterparty risks. Simultaneously, a mutualized default fund provides capital efficiencies to NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing with regard to total regulatory capital required. See “Default Fund Contributions” below for further discussion of NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing’s default fund. Power of assessment and a liability waterfall have also been implemented. See “Power of Assessment” and “Liability Waterfall” below for further discussion. These requirements ensure the alignment of risk between NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing and its clearing members.

Default Fund Contributions and Margin Deposits

As of September 30, 2013, clearing member default fund contributions and margin deposits were as follows:



	September 30, 2013
	Cash Contributions⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾		Non-Cash Contributions		Total Contributions

	(in millions)
Default fund contributions	$	239	$	75	$	314
Margin deposits		1,695		9,479		11,174
Total	$	1,934	$	9,554	$	11,488

(1)As of September 30, 2013, in accordance with its investment policy, NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing has invested cash contributions of $1,229 million in reverse repurchase agreements and $663 million in highly rated government debt securities. The remainder of this balance is held in cash and term deposits.

(2)Pursuant to clearing member agreements, we pay interest on cash contributions to clearing members.

Default Fund Contributions

Contributions made to the default funds are proportional to the exposures of each clearing member. When a clearing member is active in both the financial and commodities markets, contributions must be made to both markets’ default funds. Clearing members’ eligible contributions may include cash and non-cash contributions. Cash contributions received are invested by NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing, in accordance with its investment policy, either in highly rated government debt securities or reverse repurchase agreements with highly rated government debt securities as collateral. Clearing members’ cash contributions are included in default funds and margin deposits in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as both a current asset and a current liability. Non-cash contributions include highly rated government debt securities that must meet specific criteria approved by NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing. Non-cash contributions are pledged assets that are not recorded in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing does not take legal ownership of these assets and the risks and rewards remain with the clearing members. These balances may fluctuate over time due to changes in the amount of deposits required and whether members choose to provide cash or non-cash contributions. Assets pledged are held at a nominee account in NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing’s name for the benefit of the clearing members and are immediately accessible by NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing in the event of a default. In addition to clearing members’ required contributions to the default funds, NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing is also required to contribute capital to the default funds and overall regulatory capital as specified under its clearinghouse rules. As of September 30, 2013, NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing committed capital totaling $57 million to the member sponsored default funds and overall regulatory capital, in the form of government debt securities, which are recorded as financial investments, at fair value in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The combined regulatory capital of the clearing members and NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing will serve to secure the obligations of a clearing member and may be used to cover losses sustained by a clearing member in the event of a default.

Other Capital Contributions by NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing

NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing maintains a $93 million credit facility which may be utilized in certain situations to satisfy regulatory requirements, none of which was utilized as of September 30, 2013.

Margin Deposits

NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing requires all clearing members to provide collateral, which may consist of cash and non-cash contributions, to guarantee performance on the clearing members’ open positions, or initial margin. In addition, clearing members must also provide collateral to cover the daily margin call as needed, which is in addition to the initial margin. See “Default Fund Contributions” above for further discussion of cash and non-cash contributions.

In April 2013, NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing implemented a new collateral management process. With the implementation of this new process, NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing now maintains and manages all cash deposits related to margin collateral. Since all risks and rewards of collateral ownership, including interest, belong to NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing, these cash deposits are recorded in default funds and margin deposits in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as both a current asset and current liability. Prior to the implementation of the new collateral management process, all collateral was maintained at a third-party custodian bank for the benefit of the clearing members and was immediately accessible by NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing in the event of a default. The pledged margin collateral was not recorded in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as all risks and rewards of collateral ownership, including interest, belonged to the counterparty. Assets pledged are held at a nominee account in NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing’s name for the benefit of the clearing members and are immediately accessible by NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing in the event of a default.

NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing marks to market all outstanding contracts at least daily, requiring payment from clearing members whose positions have lost value and making payments to clearing members whose positions have gained value. The mark-to-market process helps identify any clearing members that may not be able to satisfy their financial obligations in a timely manner allowing NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing the ability to mitigate the risk of a clearing member defaulting due to exceptionally large losses. In the event of a default, NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing can access the defaulting member’s margin deposits to cover the defaulting member’s losses.

Regulatory Capital and Risk Management Calculations

NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing manages risk through a comprehensive counterparty risk management framework, which is comprised of policies, procedures, standards and resources. The level of regulatory capital is determined in accordance with NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing’s regulatory capital policy, as approved by the SFSA. Regulatory capital calculations are continuously updated through a proprietary capital-at-risk calculation model that establishes the appropriate level of capital.

As mentioned above, NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing is the legal counterparty for each contract traded and thereby guarantees the fulfillment of each contract. NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing accounts for this guarantee as a performance guarantee. We determine the fair value of the performance guarantee by considering daily settlement of contracts and other margining and default fund requirements, the risk management program, historical evidence of default payments, and the estimated probability of potential default payouts. The calculation is determined using proprietary risk management software that simulates gains and losses based on historical market prices, extreme but plausible market scenarios, volatility and other factors present at that point in time for those particular unsettled contracts. Based on this analysis, the estimated liability was nominal and no liability was recorded as of September 30, 2013.

The market value of derivative contracts outstanding prior to netting was as follows:



	September 30, 2013
	(in millions)
Commodity forwards and options⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾	$	769
Fixed-income options and futures⁽²⁾⁽³⁾		297
Stock options and futures⁽²⁾⁽³⁾		125
Index options and futures⁽²⁾⁽³⁾		168
Total	$	1,359

(1)We determined the fair value of our forward contracts using standard valuation models that were based on market-based observable inputs including LIBOR rates and the spot price of the underlying instrument.

(2)We determined the fair value of our option contracts using standard valuation models that were based on market-based observable inputs including implied volatility, interest rates and the spot price of the underlying instrument.

(3)We determined the fair value of our futures contracts based upon quoted market prices and average quoted market yields.

The total number of derivative contracts cleared through NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012 was as follows:



	September 30, 2013		September 30, 2012
Commodity forwards and options⁽¹⁾		624,714		644,589
Fixed-income options and futures		21,131,906		26,586,488
Stock options and futures		23,200,139		21,735,025
Index options and futures		29,892,938		32,833,238
Total		74,849,697		81,799,340

(1)The total volume in cleared power related to commodity contracts was 1,247 Terawatt hours (TWh) for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 1,250 TWh for the nine months ended September 30, 2012.

The outstanding contract value of resale and repurchase agreements was $5.6 billion as of September 30, 2013 and $4.7 billion as of September 30, 2012. The total number of contracts cleared was 3,428,514 for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and was 2,722,313 for the nine months ended September 30, 2012.

Power of Assessment

To further strengthen the contingent financial resources of the clearinghouse, NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing has power of assessment that provides the ability to collect additional funds from its clearing members to cover a defaulting member’s remaining obligations up to the limits established under the terms of the clearinghouse rules. The power of assessment corresponds to 100% of the clearing member’s aggregate contribution to the financial market’s and commodities market’s default funds.

Liability Waterfall

The liability waterfall is the priority order in which the capital resources would be utilized in the event of a default where the defaulting clearing member’s collateral would not be sufficient to cover the cost to settle its portfolio. If a default occurs and the defaulting clearing member’s collateral, including cash deposits and pledged assets, is depleted, then capital is utilized in the following amount and order:

•junior capital contributed by NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing, which totaled $22 million at September 30, 2013;

•a loss sharing pool related only to the financial market that is contributed to by clearing members and only applies if the defaulting member’s portfolio includes interest rate swap products;

•specific market default fund where the loss occurred, either financial or commodities market, which includes capital contributions of both the clearing members and NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing on a pro-rata basis;

•senior capital contributed by NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing, calculated in accordance with clearinghouse rules to be $28 million at September 30, 2013; and

•mutualized default fund, which includes capital contributions of both the clearing members and NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing on a pro-rata basis.

If additional funds are needed after utilization of the mutualized default fund, then NASDAQ OMX Nordic Clearing will utilize its power of assessment and additional capital contributions will be required by non-defaulting members up to the limits established under the terms of the clearinghouse rules.

NOS Clearing

NOS Clearing is a leading Norway-based clearinghouse primarily for OTC traded derivatives for the freight market and seafood derivative market. NOS Clearing acts as a CCP with a clearinghouse license from the Norwegian Ministry of Finance and is under supervision of the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway.

Through its clearing operations, NOS Clearing is the legal counterparty for, and guarantees the fulfillment of, each contract cleared. These contracts are not used by NOS Clearing for the purpose of trading on its own behalf. As the legal counterparty of each transaction, NOS Clearing bears the counterparty risk between the purchaser and seller in the contract. In its guarantor role, NOS Clearing has precisely equal and offsetting claims to and from clearing members on opposite sides of each contract, standing as an intermediary on every contract cleared. In accordance with the rules and regulations of NOS Clearing, clearing members’ open positions are aggregated to create a single portfolio for which margin collateral requirements are calculated. As of September 30, 2013, the market value of derivative contracts outstanding, prior to netting, was $75 million. The total number of derivative contracts cleared through NOS Clearing was 1,594,558 for the nine months ended September 30, 2013.

NOS Clearing has implemented member sponsored default funds for its markets. Under this structure, NOS Clearing and its clearing members must contribute to the total regulatory capital related to the clearing operations of NOS Clearing. A liability waterfall has also been implemented, which helps to ensure the alignment of risk between NOS Clearing and its clearing members in the event of default.

As of September 30, 2013, NOS Clearing committed capital to the default funds in the form of cash totaling $42 million. This committed capital is reflected as restricted cash in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. Clearing members’ pledged default fund contributions and margin collateral totaled $569 million as of September 30, 2013 and is not recorded in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as all risks and rewards of collateral ownership, including interest, belong to the counterparty.

U.S. Clearing

In the third quarter of 2013, NASDAQ OMX Commodities Clearing Company, or NOCC, entered into a strategic alliance with Natural Gas Exchange Inc., or NGX. Together NGX and NOCC provides a premier solution for transacting in physical energy in the U.S., helping customers maximize collateral efficiency and enabling increased transparency and market liquidity. NGX offers trading and clearing services for the alliance and NOCC contributes account management, product development, and scheduling resources. Since NGX is now the counterparty to all transactions and clearing arrangements, NOCC transferred all positions to NGX, returned collateral to customers, terminated its letters of credit from banks, and cancelled all contracts with customers.

Prior to the alliance with NGX, NOCC, through riskless principal trading and clearing, was the legal counterparty for each customer position traded and NOCC thereby guaranteed the fulfillment of each of its customer’s transactions.

Market participants at NOCC were required to meet certain minimum financial standards to mitigate the risk that they became unable to satisfy their obligations and provided collateral to cover the daily margin call as needed. Customer pledged cash collateral held by NOCC, which was $33 million at December 31, 2012, is included in default funds and margin deposits as both a current asset and current liability in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, as the risks and rewards of collateral ownership, including interest income, belonged to NOCC. Additionally, NOCC was the beneficiary of letters of credit from banks meeting certain rating standards, which were posted on behalf of market participants in lieu of posting cash collateral. The aggregate amount of letters of credit for which NOCC was the beneficiary was $101 million at December 31, 2012.

As of December 31, 2012, NASDAQ OMX had contributed $25 million to the NOCC guarantee fund which is recorded in non-current restricted cash in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.