Collateral

Collateral can be posted under different types of agreements which is described below.

Posting collateral for customers trading in the UK

Cash collateral account

The cash collateral account will be established by the collateral security deed and maintained as a blocked, segregated account (pledged in favor of Nord Pool).

No money may be withdrawn from the cash collateral account, except on express instructions of Nord Pool.

Letter of credit

The letter of credit denotes a letter issued by a bank to serve as a guarantee for a buyer’s payment to Nord Pool.

Bank guarantee

The bank guarantee designates from the guarantor that the liabilities (or the payments) of a buyer will be met, should the buyer fail to settle its financial obligations.

All the above mentioned collateral agreements can be found under Rules and regulations, under section D.

Posting collateral for customers trading in the Nordics, Baltics and CWE

All customers trading on the Nordic, Baltic and/or CWE market must establish a pledged settlement account agreement, pledged collateral account agreement or an on-demand guarantee to cover their collateral requirements towards Nord Pool. Note that in certain countries only a bank guarantee can be accepted.

Pledged settlement account

The pledged settlement account agreement will be established and maintained as a semi-blocked account. This means that collateral will always be blocked on the account, but any amounts excessive of the collateral call can be withdrawn by the customer without any consent by Nord Pool. The pledged account must be opened with an approved settlement bank. The pledged account can also be used for settlement of daily trades.

Pledged collateral account

The pledged collateral account agreement will be established and maintained as a blocked, segregated account (pledged in favour of Nord Pool). No money may be withdrawn from the collateral account, except on express instructions of Nord Pool.

On-demand guarantee

The on-demand guarantee is a bank guarantee that imposes a primary obligation on the guarantor to pay the beneficiary in first demand. The guarantee acts as security for the liabilities (or the payments) of a buyer towards Nord Pool.

All the above mentioned collateral agreements can be found under Rules and regulations, section D.

Bank guarantees and letter of credit issuers must be registered within an OECD country. Please read our rating requirement document for guarantee and letter of credit issuers.

Margining and collateral

Before a customer starts to trade, they must meet the initial collateral call. Initial collateral is a conservative collateral amount based on the expected trading volume of a new member. The minimum collateral level is set to EUR 30,000 which means that the collateral call for all counterparts will never be below this level.

After a customer has started to trade, Nord Pool calculates the customer’s daily margin, and this denotes daily exposure towards Nord Pool.

The collateral call is set as the maximum level of the daily margin and settlement margin that has been calculated for that customer in the applied lookback period. Customers must meet their collateral calls towards Nord Pool on a daily basis.

Monitoring of collaterals

Customers can monitor their collateral calls and postings through CASS, our clearing and settlement system. After settlement is run, customers will be able to check whether they are within their collateral limit, and whether they have to post more collateral within payment deadline the following business day.

In the morning of the due date of the collateral call, customers will be able to check their final cash position towards the collateral call to be met that business day.