Entity Setup

Before any trades can be booked, the target entity must be set up appropriately. Refer to Forwards Entity Setup Processing Notes for details.

Reference Data

Storage & Configuration

Eagle models Forward security master file (SMF) as two separate rows in Data Management, each with its own Security Alias (10), linked by a common Primary Asset ID (14). One row represents the buy side and the other represents the sell side.

Market Data

There are two methods available for pricing Forwards in Eagle. The first is to load prices the same way as other securities, except values are required on both legs. The other is to have Eagle calculate prices based on prevailing spot FX rates and forward points, using either Pricing Center or Prices and Exchange Rates Center. Refer to the Valuation section for details about this process.

Security Data

There are also two methods available for creating Forward SMFs depending on your entity-level value of Forward Security Exists.

• Yes: SMFs must be created before trades are processed, similar to other securities)

• No: SMFs are created on the fly at the time of trade booking

  • Refer to the Trade Processing section for details about the latter workflow

Forward SMFs can be set up and maintained using Issue Viewer or Reference Data Center (RDC). Some data is shared across the legs, while other fields can be unique. Some tag numbers differ between Issue Viewer and RDC due to architectural differences.

• Shared

  • Primary Asset ID Type (1432)

  • Primary Asset ID (14)

  • Processing Security Type (3931) = FWXXXX

  • Settlement/Expiration/Maturity Date (38)

  • Match Broker Indicator (3913): specifies whether the broker is used in the matching criteria for forward trading; select No if Forward Position by Broker is set to No on your entity, or Yes if it is set to Yes

    • When set to Yes you also have to populate the Broker (8f8), which gets included in the Issue Name concatenation

• Sell Side

  • Issue Name (961): concatenated automatically

  • Currency (363 or 85)

  • Alternate Asset ID (1795) and Type (5501)

  • FWDXREF (1952 or 11449)

  • Internal (1955 or 1976)

• Buy Side

  • Issue Name (1104 or 961): concatenated automatically

  • Currency (313 or 85)

  • Alternate Asset ID (2294 or 1795) and Type (2292 or 5501)

  • FWDXREF (2300 or 11449)

  • Internal (5300 or 1976)

NDF Contracts should be set up with the true non-deliverable currency on one side and the deliverable currency on the other side.

Trade Processing

The process for booking trades is also driven by the entity-level value of Forward Security Exists.

• Yes: you must query for the SMF you set up in advance

• No: you must query for the currency SMF to be bought or sold (CASHGBP, CASHEUR, etc.)

Trades are entered using the Book Trade module once entity and reference data have been configured. Enter the appropriate entity, security identifier (for the Forward SMF or the currency SMF), and trade (35)/settle (37) dates and click Submit to query for the security. Right-click it and select Book Foreign Exchange > Buy Currency - Forward Contract or Sell Currency - Forward Contract.

Forward Security Exists drives the data requirements at trade time as well. If it is set to No, you must enter the fields from the Security Data section in addition to the fields listed below. This also provides the option to create a unique Primary Asset ID automatically by setting Process For Creating Primary Asset ID (2284) = System Generated.

• Sell Currency Symbol (363)

• Sell Quantity (366)

• Buy Currency Symbol (313)

• Buy Quantity (316)

• Commission Amount Local (47)

• Other Fee Local (3752)

• Fee Settlement Date (9357)

• Settlement Currency (63): defaulted based on the entity-level Forward Settlement Currency, but can be overridden

  • Set to the deliverable currency for NDF Contracts

• Broker (88)

Close

Forwards can be closed prior to settlement date if the entity-level Forward Close Eligible = Yes. Book an offsetting Forward where the non-Settlement Currency amount exactly offsets the non-Settlement Currency amount from the original trade.

Example: the original trade was BUY 100,000 USD/SELL 135,000 CAD with Settlement Currency = USD. To fully close the position, book an offsetting Forward to BUY 135,000 CAD and SELL the appropriate USD settlement amount.

NDF Contracts

Open

NDF Contract open trades should be booked just like any other Forward. Enter the true non-deliverable currency on one side and the deliverable currency on the other side. Set Settlement Currency to the deliverable currency.

Fixing

On fixing date, an offsetting transaction must be entered for the non-deliverable currency to a) prevent any cash settlement of the non-deliverable currency and b) determine the net settlement amount of convertible currency. This transaction should be booked with the following details:

• Trade Date = fixing date

• Settlement Date = original Settlement Date

• Sell Currency Symbol = Buy Currency Symbol from the original trade

• Buy Currency Symbol = Sell Currency Symbol from the original trade

• The non-deliverable amount must be exactly equal to the non-deliverable amount from the original trade

• The deliverable amount should result in the correct total net settlement amount after being netted against the deliverable amount from the original trade

  • Example: if the deliverable amount form the original trade was 1,000 USD and the total net settlement amount is 200 USD, use 1,200 USD for the fixing trade (1,200 - 1,000 = 200)

• Settlement Currency = deliverable currency

shows an example.

Roll

NDF Contracts can be rolled forward prior to the fixing date to extend the settlement date out into the future. This is done by entering an offsetting transaction as described in the Fixing section above with Trade Date = roll date, combined with a transaction in the original direction with Trade Date = roll date and the new Settlement Date. The Roll 5-27 worksheet of  shows an example.

In the example with a roll, two fixing transactions must be entered on fixing date: one to offset the original NDF, and another to offset the roll date offset. These are the steps from the example, which assumes Forward Close Eligible = No. The name of each trade is in the Security Type column of each report.

• We start by booking NDF (May 5)

• On roll date (May 27), we book NDF ROLL FORWARD with the new Settlement Date, and we book NDF SPOT to offset NDF

  • This prevents double counting during valuation 

• On fixing date (May 31), we book NDF FIXING to offset NDF, and NDF SPOT FIXING to offset NDF SPOT

  • This prevents cash from settling in the non-deliverable currency

• On the original Settlement Date (June 2), both pairs of the offsetting transactions (NDF | NDF FIXING and NDF SPOT | NDF SPOT FIXING) are reduced to zero and realized gain/loss is locked in for the original trade and settled in the deliverable currency

• The end result is NDF ROLL FORWARD outstanding with the new Settlement Date (July 2)

Cancel & Rebook

Faulty Forward transactions can be cancelled using Cancel Trade, with the transaction rebooked using Book Trade. Forwards are not supported in Batch Cancel Trade or the Cancel & Rebook Trade process.

• Modify Cancel Accounting Date can be used to change the accounting date associated with a cancel

Accounting

Once a Forward trade is booked, it will be picked up in Eagle’s global workflow. Accounting valuation is calculated when posting unrealized gain/loss and Data Management valuation is calculated in STAR to PACE. These can be scheduled or triggered manually.

• V17 & Above: Accounting Center > Processing and Exceptions > Global Processes

  • Accounting Valuation: Unrealized Gain Loss Entries > Post Daily Fund Unrealized Gain Loss-Position

  • Data Management Valuation: Eagle STAR to Eagle PACE Direct Processing > Transfer Data - Batch

  • Maturities: Expirations & Maturities > Run Forward Contracts Maturity

• Prior to V17: Global Process Center

  • Accounting Valuation: Unrealized Gain Loss Entries > Post Daily Fund Unrealized Gain Loss-Position

  • Data Management Valuation: STAR to PACE Direct Processing > Transfer Data - Batch

  • Maturities: Expirations > Mature Forward Contract

Valuation

Eagle Accounting includes functionality to interpolate Forward prices based on spot and forward rates/points (both are supported). When the same Forward SMF is traded in multiple funds with different base currencies, the entity-level Forward Price Source (2920) allows Eagle Accounting to calculate accurate valuations across all funds (refer to the Entity Setup section for additional information).

If Forward prices are sourced externally, they can be loaded directly to the entity's Forward Price Source for the appropriate leg(s). If you are using the default Eagle sources, you would load the prices directly to 4 GBP, for example. If you are using custom sources, you would load the vendor prices directly to those sources.

• When viewing reports, forward prices are shown in the FX Rate (96) column

  • The leg that matches a fund's base currency always has an FX Rate of 1.00, while the other leg is the pricing leg

    • Both legs are pricing legs for Cross Currency Forwards (where the two currencies differ from a fund's base currency)

  • Price (481) is always shown as 1.00

  • This applies to interpolated and vendor-provided prices

• Prices can be loaded like any other security using the Closing Price (481) field in Add Issue Price, but they are moved to the FX Rate field during STAR to PACE

To interpolate Forward prices in Eagle, you must use either Pricing Center or Prices and Exchange Rates Center. In either case, ensure the following have been completed first.

1. A Feed Type of BFX exists in Accounting

   1. If it does not, it can be added as described in the Storage & Configuration section near the beginning of this document

2. The entity-level FX Source has a Feed Type of BFX listed as part of its Interfaces Details; this can be added using Add Interfaces Detail

3. The entity-level elections for Forwards have been populated: Forward Price Source, Forward Position by Broker, Forward Close Eligible, Forward Settlement Currency, and Forward Security Exists

   1. Note: these fields are not marked as required on the entity setup and there are no defaulted values

4. The Forward SMF exists, either from being set up in advance or created on the fly at trade time

5. The Forward is held in at least one entity

Pricing Center

Pricing Center differs from Prices and Exchange Rates Center in its data requirements for deriving a price. Pricing Center does not require the lower bound point to be loaded; instead, it substitutes the spot rate as the lower bound. Refer to Using Pricing Center for Forward Contracts for step-by-step details about the process.

You have complete flexibility to store forwards points to any level of granularity you desire. The industry standard is a spot rate plus 7-, 30-, 60-, 90-, 180-, 270-, and 360-days. You can also store weekly/monthly points. Once Pricing Center calculates the days to maturity of the forward, it gets the two closest lower and upper bound points available.

Pricing Center has two formulas available for pricing forwards. These are controlled by PACE System Setting 169. A value of 0 invokes the Fixed Periods formula, while a value of 1 invokes Actual Calendar Days, as shown below. This setting can be checked and changed in System Management Center > System Settings > System Parameters.

• Fixed Periods = spot + lower bound point + ((upper bound point - lower bound point) * ((days to maturity - lower bound days) / (upper bound days - lower bound days))

  • Days to Maturity = settlement date AKA maturity date - valuation date

  • Days to Maturity Offset can be used to push out the effective valuation date used in the calculation on a per currency pair basis

  • Example: valuation date = 7/12/2021, settlement/maturity date = 8/25/2021, GBP to USD offset = 2, and GBP to EUR offset = 1

    • Days to Maturity = 8/25/2021 - 7/12/2021 = 44

    • GBP to USD Days to Maturity = 44 - 2 = 42

    • GBP to EUR Days to Maturity = 44 - 1 = 41

  • Refer to Using Pricing Center for Forward Contracts | Before You Start for more information about Days to Maturity Offset

• Actual Calendar Days = spot + lower bound point + ((((spot + upper bound point) - (spot + lower bound point)) / (upper bound date - lower bound date)) * (settlement date AKA maturity date - lower point date))

The Pricing Center process uses Exchange Rates - FX Rules to create demand for the original source and Exchange Rates - FX Validation Rules to move rates to the target source, which then become the basis for price interpolation. These events can be triggered manually, or scheduled to run as part of your daily workflow. Message Center streams to load exchange rates into Pricing Center are available in CSV and STAR formats: eagle_default_in_csv_pc_addfx and eagle_default_in_star_pc_addfx.

Prices and Exchange Rates Center

Prices and Exchange Rates Center was retired in V17 in favor of Pricing Center and its improved functionality. The information below is provided for clients on earlier versions of Eagle Accounting.

Cross Currency Forwards

Similar steps should be followed to price Cross Currency Forwards (where the two currencies differ from a fund's base currency). The only difference is that two sets of rates/points must be entered. One set is required for each leg against the fund's base currency. Prices are interpolated for both legs, instead of one leg being pegged at 1.00.

If vendor prices are being used, they should be loaded directly to the entity's Forward Price Source for both legs.

Reporting

STAR to PACE (S2P)

Almost all reports in Eagle Accounting leverage data from Data Management, which is populated by the S2P process. This will be scheduled as part of the daily workflow, but can also be triggered manually as described in the Accounting section.

The S2P process creates two rows for each Forward in the POSITION, POSITION_DETAIL, TRADE, and CASH_ACTIVITY tables. The MARKET_VALUE_INCOME column captures the total market value. The following additional logic is also performed for Forwards:

• All local market value fields default to the leg quantity

• The price stored in the PRICE table is the one calculated by Pricing Center (or Prices and Exchange Rates Center) to be used to value the leg back to the base currency

• Price is set to 1.00 in the position and open lot tables

Accounting Reports

Eagle has a core set of accounting reports that can be used to review Forward and other security information. These are designed to support the daily operational workflow for business users, allowing Grid Reports to be easily exported to Excel and customized to provide additional details as needed. Advanced Reports are intended to be client-facing and do not provide the same level of customization.

Insurance Reporting

Data Management Reporting

General Reporting (OLAP)

OLAP reports provide the maximum level of customization, allowing any column in Data Management to be pulled into a report. These go beyond the Accounting Grid Reports because they are not limited by core queries, can support multiple sources and various types of calculations, and provide drill-down functionality based on user-defined groupings.

Performance

The performance toolkit has full functionality to calculate market value-based performance for Forwards using data supplied by the S2P process. Risk and performance attribution features are available to analyze Forward performance.

• Total performance of a Forward is calculated at the leg level

Note: there is an issue with performance when the entity election Forward Close Eligible is set to Yes. Refer to # 2 in the Other Notes section for more details.

Automation

Forward security master files (SMFs) and trades can be loaded through the standard Message Center streams. Unlike other securities, the SMF does not need to be loaded prior to the trade if Forward Security Exists = No. In this case, loading the trade will spawn an SMF (if necessary) in the same way as manual processing. Refer to Supported Generic Interfaces V17 for more information.

• Process For Creating Primary Asset ID (2284) must be set to System Generated

• Ensure Trade Ticket Number (761) is populated for all Forward trades because it is required to process cancels

• FX rates can be loaded via Message Center through the default eagle_default_in_csv_fxrate stream

Other Notes

1. After posting the unrealized gain/loss, verify that the gain/loss values look reasonable.

2. Performance issue when Forward Close Eligible is set to Yes. The Global Professional Services team has created an exporter to correct this issue (refer to our TRADEFWD performance_flow_descr Issue Processing Notes).