Initial Margin constitutes the margin obligation required to be fulfilled by a member on its outstanding trades in securities so as to provide cover to the Clearing Corporation from the likely risk that may arise due to the future adverse movement of prices of such securities. Initial margins for relatively weaker members are stepped up by 25% to 50% based on the Counterparty Risk Assessment (CPRA) Grade of the members. Initial Margin for particular member may also be stepped up in case of adverse market report or regulatory action etc.
Mark to Market Margin (MTM) constitutes the margin obligation required to be fulfilled by a member to cover the notional loss (i.e. the difference between the current market price and the contracted price of the security) in respect of outstanding trades.
Margin Factors are the numbers expressed, security-wise, in percentage terms. These factors are used to determine Initial Margin requirement for the trades to be accepted for guaranteed settlement by CCIL. [Initial margin for a trade is computed by multiplying the total consideration for the trade by the Margin Factor applicable for the concerned security]. Margin Factors are arrived at for each security based on Value at Risk for five_day holding period (at 99% confidence level) for such securities. For illiquid and Semi-liquid securities, Value at Risk numbers for such securities are stepped up by using appropriate multiplicants. Further, these security-wise VaR numbers are subjected to tenor based floors.
The exposure verification for a member is done on the following basis:
Outstanding trades at the time of exposure check are segregated and the trade considerations are totaled security-wise and settlement date-wise by allowing netting between buy trades and sell trades. During the process of netting, trading loss incurred by a member, if any, is arrived at using FIFO principle and is captured as Initial Margin. Profits on such netting are ignored.
Each security-wise settlement date-wise net consideration is multiplied by the margin factor applicable for the respective security to arrive at the margin requirement for the trades in the security which are due for settlement on such settlement day.
The security-wise and settlement date-wise margins are then summed up to arrive at the total initial margin requirement of a member.
Initial Margin is computed based on deal consideration till the trade is subjected to MTM margin. Thereafter, the computation of initial Margin is based on the value of the trade at MTM price.
Mark to Market margin (MTM margin) is applicable for the trades outstanding as at the end of the day and is applied at the end of the day (i.e. at the time of End of the Day Risk Valuation). No MTM margin is payable on first leg of Repo trades. Second leg of repo trades are however subjected to MTM margin immediately after the completion of netting of corresponding first leg for settlement. In case, any trade received from a member during the day is at a price which is considered as outlier, CCIL may impose Additional Initial Margin for the trade at the time of acceptance of such trade.
The total of Initial Margin, MTM Margin and Volatility Margin requirement in respect of the outstanding trades of a member should be covered by available balance in Member Common Collateral (MCC) pool. If the total margin requirement is more than the balance available in MCC pool, then the member has exceeded its exposure.
As in case of other trades, Initial Margin on a repo trade based on a security is computed by multiplying the total consideration by the Margin Factor applicable for the concerned security. The First Leg of the repo trade is considered for margining till the netting for settlement on its settlement date is over. As soon as the netting for settlement is over, the corresponding second leg of the trade is considered for margining.
An offset in margin is provided between two repo trades in opposite direction i.e. buy against sell or vice-versa, when the trades are in the same security and have same settlement dates for both legs of the trades. No offset is allowed between the first leg of a repo trade and an outright trade whereas such offset is allowed between the second leg of the trade and an outright trade in the same security and for the same settlement date.
No MTM margin is charged on 1st leg of Repo trades unless the trade has been identified as having done at an off market price. MTM margin on second leg of repo trades is applied immediately after completion of the netting for settlement of the corresponding first leg of repo trades. The MTM margin so computed will be based on the last available MTM prices. At the end of the day, such MTM margin is re-computed based on day-end MTM prices
Value at Risk (VaR) is computed security-wise using historical simulation method. For computing VaR, Zero Coupon Yield Curve (NSS) data for the past 1000 days is used. CCIL may set the VaR for illiquid securities by adding appropriate illiquidity weights to such numbers.
The requirements for initial margin vary significantly depending on the margin factor and nature of securities traded. The margin factor depends on the residual maturity of the traded security and is usually higher for securities having higher residual maturity. To assist the members to find out their margin requirement for their trades in Government Securities and also to do 'what if' analysis regarding margin requirement and required margin contribution to MCC pool, CCIL has made available a web based "Online Margin Calculator" for Securities Segment as a part of its "Integrated Risk Information System". The system can be accessed on the URL https://iris.ccilindia.com.
“Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)” is a web-based information system, which provides CCIL’s members with all information pertaining to their trades, margins & collateral, settlement status etc. This web- based utility helps its users to access their trade and margin details on a real time basis where data is refreshed in less than 5 sec. Trades executed on any of the trading systems or reported to reporting platforms is processed & displayed in a systematic manner in the application.
In addition, it assists members to:
Keep track of their outstanding trade positions.
Keep track of their intra-day deposits / withdrawals of cash/securities in the MCC pool, if any
Keep track of notional MTM credits received from other segments.
The system can be accessed on the URL https://iris.ccilindia.com. To avail this facility members have to send a request to irms@ccilindia.co.in
Outright trades falling due for settlement beyond T+0 day and Repo trades would attract Mark to Market margin (MTM Margin). This margin is computed only for the members holding adverse positions (i.e. notional loss positions) and is computed for security-wise settlement date-wise group of trades. Amount of MTM Margin therefore depends on the actual change in market price of the concerned security(ies). MTM gains on trades in liquid/semi-liquid GOI securities and T-Bills is now allowed to set off against MTM losses on trades in any security provided that the settlement of such trades with MTM gains takes place on or after the settlement date of trades with MTM losses.
Incremental MTM Margin is the sum of MTM Margin applicable on the new trades received during the day and the increase in MTM Margin during the day in respect of the trades carried over from the previous day. However, MTM Margin representing trading loss arrived at during the time of netting of trades, Additional Initial Margin collected on trades done at off-market prices. Incremental MTM margin is debited immediately on assessment of the same at the end of the day and in case of a resultant shortfall in margin, members are required to fund their margin account within stipulated time on the next business day. Failure to do so attracts penalty.
Sudden volatility in interest rates / bond prices during the day may substantially erode the Initial margins collected from the members. CCIL therefore, revalues all the outstanding trades of the members at 12.00 noon & 3.00 PM using the latest available MTM prices. Collaterals are also revalued using the latest intra-day MTM prices. Net MTM loss in the portfolio of a member will be sum of net MTM value depletion on outstanding trades and reduction in value of collaterals under charge, if any. If the net MTM Loss arrived at as above exceeds a percent (as notified from time to time) of the sum of the haircut value of collateral under charge and the initial margin and volatility Margin (if applicable) collected, such net MTM loss will be the Intra-day MTM margin payable by the member.
After the netting for settlement is completed, the margins due for trades settling on the day will be arrived at by deducting margin obligations of the trades due for settlement on subsequent days from the total margin collected. Thereafter, as the settlement proceeds in stages, margins for trades settling on the day will be re-worked by taking outstanding settlement obligations into account and margin in excess of requirement will be released.
At present, trades that fall beyond concerned members’ risk exposure limits are accepted without guarantee (vis-à-vis such members) for settlement by the Clearing Corporation. Trades once accepted without guarantee would qualify for guaranteed settlement only upon receipt of additional margin contributions to the concerned member’s MCC pool, to cover the shortfall at the time of breach in exposure. The members can make intra-day deposit of cash and securities into their Settlement Guarantee Fund towards expected intra-day margin shortfall which are accounted for by CCIL on receipt of such deposit. The securities are valued based on last available Mark to Market (MTM) prices of CCIL and then are adjusted for hair-cut.
Member Common Collateral (MCC) constitutes of member-wise margin pool to which contributions inform of Cash / Eligible Govt. Securities are made by the members to meet their margin requirements for trades cleared in Securities Segment (Market Repo & Outright), Forex USD-INR Settlement Segment (supplementary to FX Collateral in USD), Forex Forward, CLS and Rupee IRS derivatives.
The members’ contribution to the MCC pool is in the form of cash and eligible securities. The cash requirement being not less than 10% of the total margin requirement in Securities Segment & not less than 5% of total margin requirement in Forex Forward and Rupee IRS Segment
Further, the balance available in MCC pool of a direct/clearing member shall also be used to cover the deficit (if any) in default fund contribution by concerned member and the shortfall (if any) in the margin account of its Constituent’s.
Further, If the segment-wise net MTM value of trades accepted in Forex, Forex Forward & Rupee IRS Segment, is positive (i.e. MTM gain), then such MTM value, subject to haircut, is allowed as notional credit to available balance in members MCC pool. This amount is termed as “Margin Credit”.
Eligible Securities are Central Government Securities and Treasury Bills listed as such by CCIL through notification. CCIL accepts deposits in these securities into MCC pool from the members. These listed securities are usually liquid securities and the list is reviewed periodically. Inclusion / exclusion of any security to / from the list is notified to the members. On exclusion of a security from the list, a member having deposits in such security is expected to withdraw such security from MCC pool before the announced dated of exclusion; else, the value of the holding in said security in MCC pool is treated as nil.
Any security deposited by a member can be withdrawn after giving notice as required as per CCIL Regulations for the Securities Segment, as long as the value of the remaining balance in its MCC is adequate to take care of total margin requirement across segments which are accessing the common margin pool.
CCIL’s valuation methodology gives primacy to the traded prices. The price of last trade (of face value Rs.5 crores and above) of the day reported / matched on NDS-OM will be taken as MTM price. If in the opinion of CCIL, the last trade doesn’t reflect the fair market price of the security, CCIL may change the price to weighted average price for each such security. For arriving at weighted average price, last five outright trades of the last day in the security (or of all trades, if number of trades is less than five) are only taken into consideration. Trades of face value of below Rs. 5 cores, market outliers & constituent trades are ignored for this purpose.
In case there is no outright non-constituent trade of face value Rs.5 Crores and above in a security or if, in the opinion of CCIL, none of the trades in the security reflect the prevailing market price of the security, the security will be treated as not traded on the day. On such days, Mark to Market price for such security will be based on the Internal Valuation Model of Clearing Corporation.
CCIL’s Model Prices for Central Government Securities and T-Bills are worked out at the end of each trading day using Nelson-Siegel-Svensson Zero Coupon Yield Curve generated from the data on trades in Central Government Securities and T-Bills done by market participants during the day. Adjustment is made for liquidity / illiquidity premium / discount.
Default Fund in respect of its Securities Segment has been set up with a view to meeting losses arising out of any default by the members of this segment in discharging their obligations.
Default Fund quantum is based on the highest stress loss observed in the preceding six months and is reviewed at end of every month or at such frequency as decided by CCIL from time to time. A member’s contribution to the default fund is determined based on 1) Average of (a) outstanding gross trade volume of the member and (b) Initial margin contributions and 2) Highest of its Stress Loss, during preceding six months period, with 50:25:25 as weights for these components, respectively. The minimum contribution for a member is Rs. 10 Lacs. If the value of the securities net of haircuts falls below a threshold level as notified by Clearing Corporation from time to time, members shall be required to contribute such additional sums to the Default Fund as may be necessary.
Operational FAQs
Member Common Collateral account is a common margin pool where members contribute Cash and Securities as collateral towards margin requirements (Initial margin, MTM Margin, volatility margin, concentration margin etc.) on their trade positions accepted in Securities Segment (market repo/outright) and other segments viz. Forex , Forex Forwards, Rupee Derivatives, CLS etc. The balance in the account comprise of: i) Cash deposited by members ii) Eligible Securities deposited by members iii) Notional MTM gain credit, if any, from Forex Forwards, Rupee IRS and Forex segments.
CCIL system while processing the Securities / Cash withdrawal request raised by a member ascertains whether the residual cash/total balance in MCC account of concerned member would be adequate to cover the minimum cash requirements/total margin requirement. In other words, withdrawal requests are rejected if processing of the same is going to result in breach in minimum cash margin requirement/margin shortfall in MCC account.
The total margin utilization amount here means margin blocked towards various segments, margin blocked towards deficit in default fund requirements and margin blocked to cover the shortfall in margin account of clients availing clearing service through such member.
Securities Withdrawal are processed based on MTM value of Securities (not the Face Value) computed using last available MTM prices and applicable haircut.
Yes. At the end of the day, system runs an optimization logic wherein if there is a net shortfall across segmental default funds (excluding DF for Tri-party Repo which utilizes Tri-Party Collateral), such deficit is automatically met from the free balance available in MCC account of the concerned member. The residual shortfall, if any, would be shown as shortfall in Default Fund contribution for respective segment/s to be replenished. Penalty would be charged if the same is not replenished within the stipulated timelines.
Yes. If corresponding client collateral account has insufficient balance, member’s MCC account will be blocked for residual margin requirement.
There is a mandatory minimum cash margin requirement in a few segments drawing margins from MCC account, same is set as X% of member’s margin requirement in concerned segment (viz. 10% for Securities Segment and 5% in both Forex Forwards and Rupee IRS segment). Every day, system computes minimum cash requirement for each segment (on utilisation basis) and aggregate of the same is compared with available CASH deposited in MCC account. In case of deficit, CASH Component Shortfall call is sent to concerned members by ‘Collateral and Funds department’. Member is required to make good such deficit by depositing required Cash margin.
Member should immediately deposit cash or replace the ineligible security(ies) with security(ies) from list of eligible securities so as to avoid probable margin shortfall which may occur due to reduction in available MCC balance once the existing security become in-eligible.
The MCC Balance Utilization Report (RM5034) will provide the information and is available on the Report Browser.
Volatility Margin/MTM margins are blocked from available balance in MCC account. Member should immediately review the available balance. In case of inadequate balance or shortfall due to such imposition, member should make good the shortfall immediately to avoid penal charges.
Margin calculator is provided in IRIS system. In case of further help please call as per the contact list attached. You may also check the margining published on our website by clicking on https://ccilindia.com/web/ccil/rmd-securities-settlement2. The ISIN wise Margin factor list is available on the CCIL website under Risk Management Tab > Securities Segment > Margin Factors
CCIL system while processing the Securities / Cash withdrawal request raised by a member ascertains whether the residual cash/total balance in MCC account of concerned member would be adequate to cover the minimum cash requirements/total margin requirement. In other words, withdrawal requests are rejected if processing of the same is going to result in breach in minimum cash margin requirement/margin shortfall in MCC account.
The total margin utilization amount here means margin blocked towards various segments, margin blocked towards deficit in default fund requirements and margin blocked to cover the shortfall in margin account of clients availing clearing service through such member.
Securities Withdrawal are processed based on MTM value of Securities (not the Face Value) computed using last available MTM prices and applicable haircut.