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Financial Markets Act, 2012 (Act No. 19 of 2012)

Regulations

Financial Markets Act Regulations

Chapter VI : Central Counterparties

40. Review of models, stress testing and back testing

40.1 Model Validation

 

(1)

(a) A licensed central counterparty must annually conduct a comprehensive validation of its models, methodologies and liquidity risk management framework used to quantify, aggregate, and manage its risks.
(b) Any material revisions or adjustments to its models, methodologies and liquidity risk framework must be subject to appropriate governance, including seeking advice from the risk committee, and validated by a qualified and independent party prior to application.

 

(2)

(a) A central counterparty’s validation process must be documented and specify the policies used to test the central counterparty’s margin, default fund and other financial resources methodologies and framework for calculation.
(b) Any material revisions or adjustments to the polices referred to in paragraph (a) must be subject to appropriate governance, including seeking advice from the risk committee, and validated by a qualified and independent party prior to application.

 

(3)        A comprehensive validation must include—

(a) an evaluation of the conceptual soundness of the models, methodologies and frameworks, including developmental supporting evidence;
(b) a review of the on-going monitoring procedures, including verification of processes and benchmarking;
(c) a review of the parameters and assumptions made in the development of its models, methodologies and the framework;
(d) a review of the adequacy and appropriateness of the models, methodologies and framework adopted in respect of the type of contracts they apply to;
(e) a review of the appropriateness of its stress testing scenarios in accordance with these Regulations; and
(f) an analysis of the outcomes of testing results.

 

(4) A central counterparty must establish the criteria against which it assesses whether its models, methodologies and liquidity risk management framework can be successfully validated, which must include successful testing results.

 

(5) A central counterparty must, where pricing data is not readily available or reliable—
(a) address such pricing limitations and adopt conservative assumptions based on observed correlated or related markets and current behaviours of the market; and
(b) ensure that the systems and valuation models used for this purpose are subject to appropriate governance, including seeking advice from the risk committee, and validation and testing.

 

(6)        A central counterparty must—

(a) have its valuation models validated under a variety of market scenarios by a qualified and independent party to ensure that its models accurately produces appropriate prices, and where appropriate, it must adjust its calculation of initial margins to reflect any identified model risk; and
(b) regularly conduct an assessment of the theoretical and empirical properties of its margin model for all the securities that it clears.