Onwards and upgrades

Nomura Research Institute (NRI) has begun the next phase of its I-STAR suite upgrades in preparation for the shortened settlement cycle of Japanese Government Bonds(JGB) to T+1 set by the Japan Securities Dealers Association (JSDA) Working Group and scheduled for early 2018.

NRI says that I-STAR suite, its ASP back-office solutions for securities firms, enables clients to respond to the major regulatory changes in a timely manner and improve the efficiency of operations, while also reducing the cost burden.

This new upgrade will be applied to I-STAR/LC, NRI’s real-time clearing and settlement solution connected to the Bank of Japan Financial Network System. The upgraded I-STAR/LC will allow its users to calculate allocable balance (positive list) which is required to be submitted to the Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC) for T+0 settlements of general collateral repurchase transactions (GC repos) under the Subsequent Collateral Allocation Method. The enhanced I-STAR/LC then can transmit allocable balance notices (*1) to JSCC in real-time through I-STAR/MX, NRI’s solution for JASDEC settlement matching.

Other changes made to I-STAR suite to comply with T+1 migration for JGB include:

-       The upgrade for straight through processing, ISO20022 message format, as well as the new form of repo which is structured as conditional purchase/sales.

-       I-STAR/MX was also upgraded for JASDEC’s adoption of ISO20022 in 2014 and currently connects JASDEC and more than 150 financial firms. I-STAR/MX ensures its users a smooth transition to T+1 which requires ISO20022 message format for communication with JASDEC.