Mercuria to provide direct and sponsored access liquidity to Nasdaq Commodities European Power and Gas Markets

Oslo and London, May 11, 2016 – Nasdaq Commodities is pleased to announce the establishment of 14 new energy markets in Europe on its exchange. The development was made possible through collaboration with Mercuria Energy Trading, one of the world’s largest independent energy and commodities groups.

While the new markets and instruments will be available to Nasdaq Commodities clients generally, they have been designed to work with Mercuria’s sponsored access business¹ for OTC European Energy markets.

Mercuria will be providing liquidity from early Q316 and include: Monthly DS Futures in German, Dutch, UK, French, Belgian, Spanish and Italian Power. Also Dutch TTF, German NCG, German Gaspool, UK NBP, French Peg Nord, French TRS and Belgian ZBT gas.  The approximately 1,000 new instruments will cover everything from day-ahead to calendar year contracts.

The instruments and Nasdaq’s venues have achieved CFTC and European regulatory approval. The new markets will be listed on Nasdaq Oslo ASA and Nasdaq Clearing AB.

“Partnering with Nasdaq on this innovative initiative is important for Mercuria,” said Marco Dunand, CEO, Mercuria Energy Trading.” It will enable us to support Nasdaq’s growth in European commodities while aggressively scaling-up our sponsored access business with U.S.-counterparties and those financial clients who only take cleared risk. As such, it’s another significant step in the expansion of our franchise businesses globally. ”

Chris Harding, Managing Director at Mercuria’s FCA-regulated unit in London commented: ‘‘Sponsored access clients will be able to access physical energy market liquidity in Mercuria’s name, and receive a cleared position on Nasdaq from us in return on an automated basis. We’re delighted this complex project has been completed alongside the deployment of our self-clearing infrastructure.”

Bjørn Sibbern, Global Head of Nasdaq Commodities, said: “This launch was born out of 18 months of collaborative work with Mercuria who has always had confidence in Nasdaq Commodities’ ability to deliver an innovative solution for the European energy markets. Together we have created a seamless bridge between the physical OTC traded market and our regulated environment. We believe that this will greatly contribute to drive efficiency and liquidity within European energy markets and this launch gives proof that the energy market is ready for our transparent model and cleared environment.”

Nasdaq Commodities stated that ICIS will be the provider of indices for all gas products while power instruments will be settled against local spot auctions prices.

Rob Kolkman, Managing Director of ICIS, said:  “We are very pleased to be selected by Nasdaq as the information provider of choice, as ICIS continues to meet the high standards that is expected by the market and set by the International regulators. This reflects why ICIS holds the trust and recognition of our customers over our 30 years of experience in providing independent high quality pricing information, news, analysis and consulting services. ”

The Monthly DS Futures are cash settled futures with no cascading and no physical delivery. The cash settlement will occur on a monthly basis during the delivery period on the same dates as the settlement of physical power and gas contracts, i.e. the 20th calendar day the following month of delivery (the 10th bank day the following month of delivery in case of UK Power). The new energy products will be an extension of Nasdaq’s current global commodities business, which offers trading and clearing solutions for assets including power and carbon emission markets, tanker and dry cargo freight, fuel oil, seafood derivatives, iron ore, electricity certificates and clearing services, together with Nasdaq Commodities’ U.S. offering of oil, natural gas and U.S. power. An agreement for Mercuria to provide on-exchange liquidity to Nasdaq in these new products is also likely to be agreed shortly.