| Market: | Ltd |
| Products: | Cash |
| Date: | 15 September 2006 |
Project: Sterling GC Launch
Amendment to Member Test Plan
Dear RepoClear Participant
Members are advised that it has been necessary to make some minor alterations to the Member Test Approach document that you received on 31st July 2006. However, these alterations do not impact the intended go live date for the Sterling GC service on 23 October 2006.
Specifically, as a consequence of the CRESTCo Single Settlement Engine (SSE) release, the availability of a full end-to-end trialling environment has been postponed by one week from 2 October to 9 October, 2006. This delay will allow CRESTCo to ensure that the trialling environments reserved for the Repoclear Sterling GC activity are stable, processing efficiently and have all the necessary SSE changes applied. Both LCH.Clearnet and CRESTCo understand that whilst this may inconvenience members, we believe it is a prudent move which will guarantee the quality of the Sterling GC testing and subsequent launch.
Importantly, LCH.Clearnet and CRESTCo have endeavored to minimise these changes and therefore the resultant impact on members, whilst still meeting the original test objectives. The new revised Member Test Packs will be distributed on 19 September 2006.
For your information, 19 RepoClear participants have formally registered with LCH.Clearnet and will be part of the testing programme. 16 of them have expressed an intention to be part of the Sterling GC go live.
The new implementation and member testing timetable and approach will be as follows:
LCH.Clearnet requires members to perform a Scripted Connectivity Test on 27 September 2006, in order to prove their readiness. Members will then be able to input their own scripted transactions for testing of their internal systems from that date until 2 October 2006. During this period, please be aware that CRESTCo will not be supporting any test settlement service.
The above phase will be followed by a Mandatory Scripted Member Testing period of four days, starting on 3 October 2006 and planned to terminate on 6 October 2006. During this period, please be aware that CRESTCo will not provide any settlement service. This is contrary to what was stated in the initial plan, although the RepoClear member reports will show instructions as settled or failed in accordance with the scripted results. This scenario of 4 days has not changed in terms of content compared with the previous plan and corresponds to the previously published first scripted week.
The original Mandatory Member Testing period of two weeks is now condensed into seven test days with the same content and will now start on the 9 October 2006 and will terminate on the 17 October 2006. This phase will include a CRESTCo test environment, with the first week of scripted tests consisting of replaying, on an end-to-end basis, the scripted scenarios performed the week before, with the addition of one contingency day. The second week is still dedicated to exception scenarios, which is consistent with the initial plan with the two test days and three contingency days now being condensed into two days, as exceptions will now have been included in the week one testing.
A contingency period of three days, rather than five is now planned before the go-live
The target date for go-live is still the 23 October 2006. This target date will be ratified subsequent to successful member testing and will be confirmed via an Info Flash on the 18 October 2006.
As stated in the initial plan, 30 October 2006 remains a contingency live date. (Please refer the original time-table of the member testing approach circulated on the 31 July 2006)
Summary of amended Sterling GC test plan
27 September 2006 - Scripted Connectivity Test with LCH.Clearnet and start of optional member testing
2 October 2006 - End of free format and scripted Member Connectivity Testing and start of CRESTCo Member Connectivity Testing
3 October 2006 - Start of Mandatory Scripted Member Test (not supported by CRESTCo)
6 October 2006 - Close of Mandatory Scripted Member Test
9 October 2006 - Inclusion of CRESTCo in Mandatory Scripted Member Test
17 October 2006 - End of Mandatory Scripted Member Test
18 October 2006 - Confirmation of live date notice sent by LCH.Clearnet
23 October 2006 - Intended go live date
30 October - Contingency live date
For further information on Sterling GC Implementation, contact: Nathalie Parquic, LCH.Clearnet Implementation Team, Tel: +44 207 426 7889, E-mail: nathalie.parquic@lchclearnet.com
For further general information, contact: Nick Maggs, Fixed Income Market Liaison, Tel: +44 207 426 7442, E-mail: nick.maggs@lchclearnet.com