Budapest, 31 May 2017 – Owing to the favourable economic environment, the KELER Group, providing central securities depository, clearing and settlement services, witnessed a growth in its revenues in business year 2017. The revenues of KELER Ltd. has increased to HUF 4.859 billion by 6.38 percent in annual comparison. The KELER CCP Ltd. revenues of HUF 1.386 billion in 2017 represented an 8.4 percent growth compared to 2016. The KELER Group continued attaining its strategic objectives in 2017, focusing on strengthening its role as a regional depository and further developing its related services.
The KELER Group, the provider of central securities depository and clearing services, completed a successful year in 2017. The revenues of KELER Ltd. resulting from its service-providing activities reached HUF 4.859 billion, that exceeded the business plan and represents an increase of 6.38 percent in comparison to the previous year.
Attila MÓNUS, CEO of KELER, stated that the growth of the Hungarian economy and the increasing turnover of the organized securities and energy trade markets had significant role in achieving the better-than-planned performance and the growth of the revenues at an annual level. He added that the increasing revenues were realized in a stable business environment.
Fee income exceeds plans
The CEO presented the results of KELER in detail and stated: “Within the cumulated revenues, the commission and fee income of KELER exceeded the business plan by HUF 38 million and reached HUF 4.538 billion. The operative costs and expenses of KELER exceeded the plans by an amount of HUF 3.758 billion due to an individual accounting item. The financial earnings of KELER in 2017 were HUF 1.222 billion; the result, that was HUF 103 million less than planned, can be explained by the rearrangement of client accounts balances induced by the low yield environment that ruled the previous year.
Growth at KELER CCP
KELER CCP Ltd., a provider of clearing and guarantee undertaking services, also saw its revenues grew in 2017. Károly MÁTRAI, CEO of KELER CCP stated that the company realized a fee income that was nearly HUF 90 million more than in the previous business year. The capital market related fee income increased by HUF 10 million in comparison to 2016 and the fee income from the energy market exceeded the 2016 record level by HUF 40 million in 2017. The CEEGEX market spot and futures income grew nearly to three times of the income of the previous year. The cumulated revenues of KELER CCP rose to HUF 1.386 billion in 2017, more than 8.4 percent higher than last year.
Focusing on expansion
The service development programme launched at the KELER Group underwent a significant review last year and in the framework of this modernization KELER strives to realize the content focus formed together with the market in order to enable that the development realized on the market side, can be applied also in the future. The automation of T2S services has a high priority among the developments.
Business year 2017 of the KELER Group contributed to reaching the objectives set out in the group strategy and to providing settlement, clearing and trade reporting services as an internationally acclaimed actor that was completed by active customer relation activities. The market and regulatory changes provided several opportunities for the KELER Group to contact the clients and to offer value-added services and this facilitated the maintenance and even the expansion of the clientele.
MÓNUS Attila emphasized that as a closure of 2017, the KELER Group would like to thank all of its clients and partners for their trust and looks forward to the jubilee year in 2018, taking into consideration that KELER Ltd. celebrates a 25-year anniversary, while KELER CCP celebrates a 10-year anniversary in 2018.
KELER Group
KELER Ltd. (KELER), founded in 1993, is held by the Central Bank of Hungary and by the Budapest Stock Exchange. Together with its subsidiary, KELER CCP (jointly: KELER Group) it provides and operates the infrastructure necessary for the uninterrupted operation of the domestic capital market and of the organized gas market, furthermore the operation of several European energy markets in cooperation with the European Commodities Clearing AG. KELER, as the only central securities depository of the Hungarian capital market, serves as the central support organization for the issuance of the Hungarian securities and for the settlement of security transactions. At the same time KELER CCP, as a clearing house, ensures the secure and transparent settlement of the transactions and it basically replaces the clients involved in contracts concluded in one or more financial markets. KELER CCP acts as a buyer towards sellers and as a seller towards all buyers in such way that it operates as an exclusive contracting party and provides guarantee for the completion of the transactions. KELER CCP, as a clearing house, in line with the most thorough European requirements, provides clearing services to the Budapest Stock Exchange, for MTS Hungary government debt securities trading platform, for CEEGEX Central Eastern European Gas Exchange and for the Hungarian balancing gas market, furthermore provides general clearing member services for the HUPX Hungarian organized power trading market, for the domestic HUDEX derivative energy exchange and for the German, British, Benelux, French, Czech and Serbian energy markets and for the Austrian gas market.
The KELER Group is such an innovative service provider that bases the service of its clients on a sound professional and IT background, in accordance with international practice, and in compliance with domestic and international legal regulations, taking into account the current and future needs of market actors, and with a combination of stable ownership and capital positions. Its aim is to become a dominant market player at regional and European level based on market and service innovation.