The Prague-based Power Exchange Central Europe launched new settlement services through Germany’s European Commodity Clearing on Monday, a move officials said would cut costs for bourse members and lower margin limits.
The deal announced last October gives ECC, a subsidiary of Leipzig-based European Energy Exchange, a foothold in the east European market and will help the Prague exchange increase volumes as it pushes to be the regional hub for power trading.
“The new clearing solution will make trading cheaper for PXE members, as they will be able to transact higher transaction volumes with lower capital requirements,” PXE Chief Executive David Kucera said in a statement.
Over the past six years, rival bourses have started operations in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, hoping to tap into a potentially lucrative market in a region with good grid connections and scope for prices to rise.
Under the agreement, ECC will clear Czech, Slovak and Hungarian power futures listed on the PXE. Open positions in these products have been transferred to ECC, which will also provide settlement for day-ahead trades. (Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by John Stonestre
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/02/power-prague-exchange-idUSL6N0GY1B320130902
