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Clearing Operations
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2022
Due to and from Broker-Dealers and Clearing Organizations [Abstract]  
Clearing Operations CLEARING OPERATIONS
Nasdaq Clearing
Nasdaq Clearing is authorized and supervised under EMIR as a multi-asset clearinghouse by the SFSA. Such authorization is effective for all member states of the European Union and certain other non-member states that are part of the European Economic Area, including Norway. The clearinghouse acts as the CCP for exchange and OTC trades in equity derivatives, fixed income derivatives, resale and repurchase contracts, power derivatives, emission allowance derivatives, and seafood derivatives. 
Through our clearing operations in the financial markets, which include the resale and repurchase market, the commodities markets, and the seafood market, Nasdaq Clearing is the legal counterparty for, and guarantees the fulfillment of, each contract cleared. These contracts are not used by Nasdaq Clearing for the purpose of trading on its own behalf. As the legal counterparty of each transaction, Nasdaq Clearing bears the counterparty risk between the purchaser and seller in the contract. In its guarantor role, Nasdaq Clearing has precisely equal and offsetting claims to and from clearing members on opposite sides of each contract, standing as the CCP on every contract cleared. In accordance with the rules and regulations of Nasdaq Clearing, default fund and margin collateral requirements are calculated for each clearing member’s positions in accounts with the CCP. See “Default Fund Contributions and Margin Deposits” below for further discussion of Nasdaq Clearing’s default fund and margin requirements.
Nasdaq Clearing maintains three member sponsored default funds: one related to financial markets, one related to commodities markets and one related to the seafood market. Under this structure, Nasdaq Clearing and its clearing members must contribute to the total regulatory capital related to the clearing operations of Nasdaq Clearing. This structure applies an initial separation of default fund contributions for the financial, commodities and seafood markets in order to create a buffer for each market’s counterparty risks. See “Default Fund Contributions” below for further discussion of Nasdaq Clearing’s default fund. A power of assessment and a liability waterfall have also been implemented to further align risk between Nasdaq Clearing and its clearing members. See “Power of Assessment” and “Liability Waterfall” below for further discussion.
Nasdaq Commodities Clearing Default
In September 2018, a member of the Nasdaq Clearing commodities market defaulted due to the inability to post sufficient collateral to cover increased margin requirements for the positions of the relevant member, which had experienced losses due to sharp adverse movements in the Nordic - German power market spread. Nasdaq Clearing followed default procedures and offset the future market risk on the defaulting member’s positions.
Immediately following the event, Nasdaq Clearing launched a comprehensive enhancement program to strengthen the resilience and robustness of the clearinghouse.
In December 2018, the SFSA initiated a review of Nasdaq Clearing. In January 2021, the SFSA issued a warning combined with an administrative fine of approximately $33 million (SEK 300 million) to Nasdaq Clearing based on its review. Nasdaq Clearing appealed the SFSA´s decision to the Administrative Court. In December 2021, the court rejected Nasdaq Clearing’s appeal and upheld the decision of the SFSA. In January 2022, Nasdaq Clearing appealed this decision to the Administrative Court of Appeal. While we continue to firmly believe in the merit of our appeal, due to the recent decision by the Administrative Court, we have determined it is appropriate to record an accrual for the full amount of the administrative fine issued by the SFSA. The charge was included in regulatory expense in our Consolidated Statements of Income for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Default Fund Contributions and Margin Deposits
As of March 31, 2022, clearing member default fund contributions and margin deposits were as follows:
 March 31, 2022
 Cash ContributionsNon-Cash ContributionsTotal Contributions
 (in millions)
Default fund contributions
$736 $133 $869 
Margin deposits5,834 7,199 13,033 
Total$6,570 $7,332 $13,902 
Of the total default fund contributions of $869 million, Nasdaq Clearing can utilize $764 million as capital resources in the event of a counterparty default. The remaining balance of $105 million pertains to member posted surplus balances.
Our clearinghouse holds material amounts of clearing member cash deposits which are held or invested primarily to provide security of capital while minimizing credit, market and liquidity risks. While we seek to achieve a reasonable rate of return, we are primarily concerned with preservation of capital and managing the risks associated with these deposits.
Clearing member cash contributions are maintained in demand deposits held at central banks and large, highly rated financial institutions or secured through direct investments, primarily central bank certificates and highly rated European government debt securities with original maturities primarily 1 year or less, reverse repurchase agreements and multilateral development bank debt securities. Investments in reverse repurchase agreements range in maturity from 1 day to 20 days and are secured with highly rated government securities and multilateral development banks. The carrying value of these securities approximates their fair value due to the short-term nature of the instruments and reverse repurchase agreements.
Nasdaq Clearing has invested the total cash contributions of $6,570 million as of March 31, 2022 and $5,911 million as of December 31, 2021, in accordance with its investment policy as follows:
 March 31, 2022December 31, 2021
 (in millions)
Demand deposits$4,270 $3,061 
Central bank certificates1,128 2,013 
Restricted cash and cash equivalents$5,398 $5,074 
European government debt securities443 414 
Reverse repurchase agreements457 152 
Multilateral development bank debt securities272 271 
Investments$1,172 $837 
Total$6,570 $5,911 
In the table above, the change from December 31, 2021 to March 31, 2022 includes currency translation adjustments of $160 million for restricted cash and cash equivalents and $37 million for investments.
For the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 investments related to default funds and margin deposits, net includes purchases of investment securities of $10,647 million and $12,197 million, respectively, and proceeds from sales and redemptions of investment securities of $10,275 million and $12,002 million, respectively.
In the investment activity related to default fund and margin contributions, we are exposed to counterparty risk related to reverse repurchase agreement transactions, which reflect the risk that the counterparty might become insolvent and, thus, fail to meet its obligations to Nasdaq Clearing. We mitigate this risk by only engaging in transactions with high credit quality reverse repurchase agreement counterparties and by limiting the acceptable collateral under the reverse repurchase agreement to high quality issuers, primarily government securities and other securities explicitly guaranteed by a government. The value of the underlying security is monitored during the lifetime of the contract, and in the event the market value of the underlying security falls below the reverse repurchase amount, our clearinghouse may require additional collateral or a reset of the contract.
Default Fund Contributions
Required contributions to the default funds are proportional to the exposures of each clearing member. When a clearing member is active in more than one market, contributions must be made to all markets’ default funds in which the member is active. Clearing members’ eligible contributions may include cash and non-cash contributions. Cash contributions received are maintained in demand deposits held at central banks and large, highly rated financial institutions or invested by Nasdaq Clearing, in accordance with its investment policy, either in central bank certificates,
highly rated government debt securities, reverse repurchase agreements with highly rated government debt securities as collateral, or multilateral development bank debt securities. Nasdaq Clearing maintains and manages all cash deposits related to margin collateral. All risks and rewards of collateral ownership, including interest, belong to Nasdaq Clearing. Clearing members’ cash contributions are included in default funds and margin deposits in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as both a current asset and a current liability. Non-cash contributions include highly rated government debt securities that must meet specific criteria approved by Nasdaq Clearing. Non-cash contributions are pledged assets that are not recorded in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as Nasdaq Clearing does not take legal ownership of these assets and the risks and rewards remain with the clearing members. These balances may fluctuate over time due to changes in the amount of deposits required and whether members choose to provide cash or non-cash contributions. Assets pledged are held at a nominee account in Nasdaq Clearing’s name for the benefit of the clearing members and are immediately accessible by Nasdaq Clearing in the event of a default. In addition to clearing members’ required contributions to the liability waterfall, Nasdaq Clearing is also required to contribute capital to the liability waterfall and overall regulatory capital as specified under its clearinghouse rules. As of March 31, 2022, Nasdaq Clearing committed capital totaling $132 million to the liability waterfall and overall regulatory capital, in the form of government debt securities, which are recorded as financial investments in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The combined regulatory capital of the clearing members and Nasdaq Clearing is intended to secure the obligations of a clearing member exceeding such member’s own margin and default fund deposits and may be used to cover losses sustained by a clearing member in the event of a default.
Margin Deposits
Nasdaq Clearing requires all clearing members to provide collateral, which may consist of cash and non-cash contributions, to guarantee performance on the clearing members’ open positions, or initial margin. In addition, clearing members must also provide collateral to cover the daily margin call if needed. See “Default Fund Contributions” above for further discussion of cash and non-cash contributions.
Similar to default fund contributions, Nasdaq Clearing maintains and manages all cash deposits related to margin collateral. All risks and rewards of collateral ownership, including interest, belong to Nasdaq Clearing and are recorded in revenues. These cash deposits are recorded in default funds and margin deposits in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as both a current asset and a current liability. Pledged margin collateral is not recorded in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as all risks and rewards of collateral ownership, including interest, belong to the counterparty. Assets pledged are held at a nominee account in Nasdaq Clearing’s name for the benefit of the clearing members and are immediately accessible by Nasdaq Clearing in the event of a default.
Nasdaq Clearing marks to market all outstanding contracts and requires payment from clearing members whose positions have lost value. The mark-to-market process helps identify any clearing members that may not be able to satisfy their financial obligations in a timely manner allowing Nasdaq Clearing the ability to mitigate the risk of a clearing member defaulting due to exceptionally large losses. In the event of a default, Nasdaq Clearing can access the defaulting member’s margin and default fund deposits to cover the defaulting member’s losses.
Regulatory Capital and Risk Management Calculations
Nasdaq Clearing manages risk through a comprehensive counterparty risk management framework, which is comprised of policies, procedures, standards and financial resources. The level of regulatory capital is determined in accordance with Nasdaq Clearing’s regulatory capital and default fund policy, as approved by the SFSA. Regulatory capital calculations are continuously updated through a proprietary capital-at-risk calculation model that establishes the appropriate level of capital.
As mentioned above, Nasdaq Clearing is the legal counterparty for each contract cleared and thereby guarantees the fulfillment of each contract. Nasdaq Clearing accounts for this guarantee as a performance guarantee. We determine the fair value of the performance guarantee by considering daily settlement of contracts and other margining and default fund requirements, the risk management program, historical evidence of default payments, and the estimated probability of potential default payouts. The calculation is determined using proprietary risk management software that simulates gains and losses based on historical market prices, extreme but plausible market scenarios, volatility and other factors present at that point in time for those particular unsettled contracts. Based on this analysis, excluding any liability related to the Nasdaq commodities clearing default (see discussion above), the estimated liability was nominal and no liability was recorded as of March 31, 2022.
Power of Assessment 
To further strengthen the contingent financial resources of the clearinghouse, Nasdaq Clearing has power of assessment that provides the ability to collect additional funds from its clearing members to cover a defaulting member’s remaining obligations up to the limits established under the terms of the clearinghouse rules. The power of assessment corresponds to 230.0% of the clearing member’s aggregate contribution to the financial, commodities and seafood markets’ default funds.
Liability Waterfall
The liability waterfall is the priority order in which the capital resources would be utilized in the event of a default where the defaulting clearing member’s collateral would not be sufficient to cover the cost to settle its portfolio. If a default occurs and the defaulting clearing member’s collateral, including cash deposits and pledged assets, is depleted, then capital is utilized in the following amount and order:
•junior capital contributed by Nasdaq Clearing, which totaled $42 million as of March 31, 2022;
•a loss-sharing pool related only to the financial market that is contributed to by clearing members and only applies if the defaulting member’s portfolio includes interest rate swap products;
•specific market default fund where the loss occurred (i.e., the financial, commodities, or seafood market), which includes capital contributions of the clearing members on a pro-rata basis; and
•fully segregated senior capital for each specific market contributed by Nasdaq Clearing, calculated in accordance with clearinghouse rules, which totaled $23 million as of March 31, 2022.
If additional funds are needed after utilization of the liability waterfall, or if part of the waterfall has been utilized and needs to be replenished, then Nasdaq Clearing will utilize its power of assessment and additional capital contributions will be required by non-defaulting members up to the limits established under the terms of the clearinghouse rules.
In addition to the capital held to withstand counterparty defaults described above, Nasdaq Clearing also has committed capital of $67 million to ensure that it can handle an orderly wind-down of its operation, and that it is adequately protected against investment, operational, legal, and business risks.
Market Value of Derivative Contracts Outstanding
The following table presents the market value of derivative contracts outstanding prior to netting:
 March 31, 2022
 (in millions)
Commodity and seafood options, futures and forwards$518 
Fixed-income options and futures1,345 
Stock options and futures228 
Index options and futures82 
Total$2,173 
In the table above:
•We determined the fair value of our option contracts using standard valuation models that were based on market-based observable inputs including implied volatility, interest rates and the spot price of the underlying instrument.
•We determined the fair value of our futures contracts based upon quoted market prices and average quoted market yields.
•We determined the fair value of our forward contracts using standard valuation models that were based on market-based observable inputs including benchmark rates and the spot price of the underlying instrument.
Derivative Contracts Cleared
The following table presents the total number of derivative contracts cleared through Nasdaq Clearing for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021:
 March 31, 2022March 31, 2021
Commodity and seafood options, futures and forwards96,153 155,662 
Fixed-income options and futures6,594,330 6,404,204 
Stock options and futures5,113,644 6,306,308 
Index options and futures13,144,541 9,076,033 
Total24,948,668 21,942,207 
In the table above, the total volume in cleared power related to commodity contracts was 135 Terawatt hours (TWh) and 250 TWh for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Resale and Repurchase Agreements Contracts Outstanding and Cleared
The outstanding contract value of resale and repurchase agreements was $1.0 billion as of March 31, 2022 and the total number of resale and repurchase agreements contracts cleared was 1,317,510 for the three months ended March 31, 2022.