Role of the clearing house

As a clearing house, NOS acts as a central counterparty between the contract parties and becomes the seller versus the buyer and buyer versus the seller. This means that the clearing house enters into the contract between the buyer and the seller and becomes the counterparty to both parties in the transaction, ensuring the fulfilment of the contractual obligations. The clearing house ensures that it can meet its obligations through collecting collateral (margin) from both the buyer and the seller.

Income from clearing is generated through the collection of clearing fees.

As central counterparty, NOS:

• Participates as counterparty in every transaction, which is commonly referred to as a “counterparty undertaking”.
• Monitors the market and market participants.
• Reduces the number of transactions due to payments netting.
• Provides secure and standardised transaction processing.
• Calculates and controls pledged collateral.
• Makes the work in our member’s credit, backoffice and risk management departments more efficient.