Computershare Markets Technology says it has signed maintenance agreements with more than two dozen stock exchanges and CSDs that were left unsupported following the bankruptcy of their former technology supplier, EFA Software.
EFA Software Services Ltd filed for bankruptcy in October 2002 and Computershare gained court approval to purchase the assets in March this year. The assets included the Horizon central market trading system and the Equator clearing and settlement solution that are used by some 25 financial markets around the world. These include nine exchanges in the Arab speaking world, four in Europe and Africa and the remainder in North America and the Caribbean.
Peter Jessup, head of Computershare Markets Technology says that none of EFA's former clients has decided to change their software to another provider. "Two exchanges have already upgraded to our latest version and we are planning three more in the coming months, and we have just closed a deal to take on board a new client in Canada," he says.
Horizon and Equator are particularly suited to small and mid-sized exchanges trading in cash settled instruments, while Computershare's exchange trading system X-stream and the Smarts surveillance system are in use in 15 high end global markets.