Cash Equity Membership for Nasdaq Nordic

1.1 Members are required to decide which type of arrangement they will have for clearing and settling their trades.

Members of the Nasdaq Nordic exchanges can execute trades that are cleared bilaterally or through CCP. The requirements for membership are dependent on the clearing solution. The general membership requirement for members is that appropriate clearing and settlement arrangements must be in place for the trades which are going to be executed.

To trade CCP instruments a member is required to have appropriate clearing arrangements in place with a central counterparty either directly or via a General Clearing Participant. Nasdaq Nordic will ask a CCP for a form verifying that the member has clearing arrangements in place.

Nasdaq Nordic supports competitive central counterparty model with interoperating CCPs, which allows members the choice of a CCP from Cboe Clear Europe N.V., LCH.Clearnet Ltd and SIX x-clear Ltd.

To trade bilaterally cleared instruments, a member is required to either be a member of the relevant Central Securities Depository (CSD) or to settle through a custodian bank.

Please find more information about Cash Equity post trade arrangements.

1.2 Regulated Firm

We welcome member applicants who are authorized by a European Financial Supervisory Authority (regulated members).

A Member shall possess equity capital equivalent to not less than €750,000. Nasdaq Nordic may choose to grant restricted membership which gives a Member the right to trade solely on its own account and exclusively instruments cleared and settled via a central counterparty to an applicant domiciled within the European Economic Area and that has equity capital equivalent to not less than € 50,000.

In order to start the membership application process, your Nasdaq Key Account Manager will provide you with the Member Portal Administrator Appointment form. The form shall be signed and sent back together with up to date signature evidence documentation (company certificate and signature specimens of the authorized signatory(-ies). The Nasdaq operator team can then set up the prospect in Member Portal so the process can get started. Membership application will be sent out from the Member Portal and handled from there by the prospect's appointed Member Portal Administrator.

Appendices to be enclosed in the Membership Application:

• Copy of the relevant authorizations to provide investment services in the relevant jurisdictions (FSA approval) applicable only to regulated members.
• Financial statements for the previous year and if available, the most recent interim report.
• Copy of the company’s Articles of Association
• Copy of the company’s Certificate of Incorporation
• List of authorized signatories specifying the authorities of each signatory
• Description of the ownership structure (If the applicant is part of a group of companies and if it is not in the financial statement). The names of other group of companies and the applicant’s relationship to those companies should be clearly indicated.
• Membership Agreement

Additional forms to be enclosed:

• Verification of Clearing Participant Services– for non-clearing participants
  To be signed by any Nasdaq Nordic exchange member that wishes to trade securities that are CCP cleared when the member is not a direct participant to a Nasdaq Nordic appointed CCP but uses General Clearing Participant. The General Clearing Participant must also sign the form to acknowledge that they assume the responsibility for the trades.
• Verification of Clearance and Settlement – for direct and general clearing participants
  To be signed by any Nasdaq Nordic exchange member that wishes to trade securities that are CCP cleared when the member is either direct or general clearing participant.
• Verification of custody Bank for bilateral clearance of trades, applicable only to equity members trading non CCP cleared shares
  To be signed by any Nasdaq Nordic exchange member that wishes to trade securities that are bilaterally cleared and settlement at a CSD where the member does not hold full membership of the CSD. The Custody Bank must also sign the form to acknowledge that they assume the responsibility for the trades.

Establish and test connectivity to the Nasdaq Nordic and the trading platform INET.

Every member must have at least two authorized traders before the member process is concluded.

• Please visit the Training and Authorization page for further information.

Trading can start when

• all applications have been signed, returned and approved by Nasdaq Nordic
• technical access has been established and tested
• at least two traders have been registered.