ZURICH, March 28 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank has
launched an investigation into a software malfunction at the
Zurich stock exchange operator SIX which led to transactions
completed more than once.
The central bank has begun looking into transactions which
had already been processed at SIX, which were settled again at
the end of June 2022.
Details of the investigation emerged in the SNB's annual
report, which was published last week.
"An operational incident occurred at a systemically
important financial market infrastructure at the end of June, in
which a software malfunction led to previously settled
transactions being reinstructed, some of which were subsequently
resettled," the SNB report said.
The central bank said it had commissioned an external audit
firm to examine the incident, with the results expected by the
middle of this year.
The incident relates to the market in repurchase orders,
known as repos, which was interrupted by a technical problem
last year, a SIX spokesman said on Tuesday.
"The problem was quickly identified and the SNB and
participants were informed accordingly in a timely manner," the
spokesman said.
Measures to correct the problem were taken, and the repo
market resumed operations on the same day.
Repos are financial tools used by central banks to
implement monetary policy. They are used to steer interest rates
by managing liquidity in the financial system.
Under the arrangements, the SNB buys securities from a
commercial bank on the condition that the bank will repurchase
them at a later date, effectively providing funds at a set
interest rate.
SIX is the only provider of this service in Switzerland.
The SNB has the mandate to monitor those parts of SIX that
may pose risks to the stability of the financial system.
"We are in close and regular exchange with the SNB due to
the placement of sub-areas of SIX under SNB supervision," the
SIX spokesman said.
The SNB declined to provide further details beyond what was
said in its annual report.
(Reporting by Oliver Hirt, writing by John Revill
Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
Messaging: john.revill.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
